Home / Science / Declassified Records Reveal Amelia Earhart's Desperate Final Moments
Declassified Records Reveal Amelia Earhart's Desperate Final Moments
17 Nov
Summary
- Newly declassified records provide intimate details of Earhart's final radio transmissions
- Crew on Itasca cutter took critical 2 minutes to switch to right frequency to guide Earhart
- Earhart's last confirmed transmission showed her circling in vain, unable to spot Howland Island
In a remarkable development, the US National Archives (NSA) has recently published thousands of declassified documents related to the mysterious disappearance of legendary aviator Amelia Earhart in 1937. The trove of records, released at the order of President Donald Trump, provides unprecedented insight into Earhart's final moments before she vanished over the Pacific Ocean.
The newly declassified files include previously classified intercepts with "information on Earhart's last known communications, weather and plane conditions at the time." The records reveal that Earhart's last radio transmissions, on the day she and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared, showed the aviator sounding increasingly desperate as she called for help, saying she was lost and asking the Itasca cutter to guide her in. However, it took the Itasca crew a critical two full minutes to switch their equipment to the right frequency and start sending the signal Earhart needed.
Earhart's last confirmed transmission, at 8:43 am local time, showed her circling in vain, believing she was flying up and down an invisible straight line through Howland Island. Tragically, Earhart could not see the atoll or the Itasca's smoke screen through the clouds, and her plane was never seen or heard from again, sparking one of the greatest aviation mysteries of the 20th century.
