Pilot who spent $11 million to find Amelia Earhart's plane says it's at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean

Amelia Earhart became a pioneer of aviation when she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean on her own. Unfortunately, during her historical attempt to go around the world on her plane, it went off the radar near the Nukamanu Islands. The plane, along with Earhart and her only crew member, Fred Noonan, was never found, reported People. There are waves in an image from the Deep Sea Vision that could be Earhart's long-lost plane. The duo were last seen when they took off from Papua New Guinea on July 2, 1937. They were supposed to refuel at the Howland Islands before continuing their trip around the world, but they never reached there. They were almost at the end of their journey. Now, according to a post from Deep Sea Vision, a plane has been spotted around the area where the duo disappeared and it seems to be Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Electra.

The crew member believes they have found the remnants of the aircraft at the bottom of the ocean. The search by Deep Sea Vision for the wreckage was launched in September 2023 with a 16-person crew from Tarwa, Kiribati, a port near Howland Island. About 30 days into their search, they found a sonar image of what looked like an airplane within 100 miles of the island. Recently, the Instagram page of Deep Sea Vision revealed what it thinks is the wreckage of Earhart's plane, found after scanning 5,200 square miles of the ocean floor, as per the outlet. Although it hasn't been confirmed if the wreckage on the sonar image is actually the missing plane or not, Tony Romeo, the pilot who funded the search, believes that the debris is connected to the crash.

Romeo told Today, "There’s no other known crashes in the area and certainly not of that era or that kind of design with the tale that you see in the image." Romeo was previously a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer and had spent $11 million to fund the search for the lost plane. The crews used the Kongsberg Discovery HUGIN 6000 to find the plane, which, according to Deep Sea Vision, is the most advanced unmanned water drone. “This is maybe the most exciting thing I’ll ever do in my life,” Romeo said, “I feel like a 10-year-old going on a treasure hunt.” It seems like a huge success, but the experts are eager for the information that Deep Sea Vision hopes to find during its next expedition. Archaeologist Andrew Pietruszka said that one cannot know for sure what something is until we physically take a look.

The crew is planning to return to the site to learn more about the wreckage. If the plane actually turns out to be Earhart's, Romeo needs to find ways to lift it and salvage it. He also added that he doesn't believe they are there yet. “But I do think Americans want to see this in the Smithsonian; that's where it belongs. Not the bottom of the ocean," Romeo told the outlet. Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum told Smithsonian magazine that the image was fascinating and should definitely be given a second look.

At the time of her disappearance, the US Navy has extensively searched for Earhart. Earhart and Noonan gave their last update when they radioed their position around 8 pm on July 2. They had planned to refuel at Howland Island, 2,550 miles away from their previous halt. Following their disappearance, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard searched for the pair for over 16 days before they were officially declared dead on January 5, 1939.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on January 31, 2024. It has since been updated.