Archaeologists suspected they found clues about missing pilot Amelia Earhart after 2020 satellite imagery identified what is now known as the Taraia Object, a "visual anomaly" that is believed to be the remains of her airplane, Electra.
Last July, the Purdue Research Foundation announced an expedition to excavate it, set to launch next week. But Monday, researchers from Purdue University announced concerns over legal paperwork and the cyclone season led to a delay for the expedition.
Researcher Richard Pettigrew, a leading Aerhart researcher, and Purdue University's Steve Shultz explained there were unforeseen complications in acquiring a research permit from the country of Kiribati. They said the process for having the permit granted was complicated by coordinating with multiple levels of government and a number of stakeholders overseeing fishing and ecological protections.
The two said they're confident the delay will end up being a boon for the expedition because the extra time will help relations with officials in Kiribati. The time will also give the team opportunities to fine tune their use of technology to excavate for the missing aircraft.
They estimate the earliest safe time to travel to the island will be in April 2026, after the South Pacific's cyclone season passes. A new date for the expedition's departure has not yet been decided upon.
The overall plan remains mostly the same. The Purdue Research Foundation and the Archaeological Legacy Institute will send a team to Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific. Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan are speculated to have been marooned there after their plane ran out of fuel.
The announcement of the initial plan came on the 88th anniversary of Earhart's disappearance.
"What we have here is maybe the greatest opportunity ever to finally close the case," said Richard Pettigrew, ALI's executive director, in a July news release. "With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof."
Nikumaroro is a small island in the Pacific Ocean about halfway between Australia and Hawaii. Previously, it was believed Earhart's plane crashed into the ocean, but researchers said there is a "vast amount of circumstantial evidence" suggesting she landed on Nikumaroro after her disappearance in July 1937, including satellite imagery, radio transmissions and artifacts recovered from the island.
Earhart was hired as a visiting aeronautical engineering faculty member and women's career counselor at Purdue in 1935. The university then established the Amelia Earhart Fund for Aeronautical Research, which sponsored her mission to fly around the world and funded her Lockheed Electra 10E airplane.
"About nine decades ago, Amelia Earhart was recruited to Purdue, and the university president later worked with her to prepare an aircraft for her historic flight around the world," said Purdue President Mung Chiang. "Today, as a team of experts try again to locate the plane, the Boilermaker spirit of exploration lives on."
While previous expeditions to Nikumaroro Island have come up empty, researchers believe they uncovered new evidence to help them find the aircraft. If they identify the Taraia Object as remnants of the Electra, PRF and ALI said they will return to the island in 2026 for a larger excavation effort.
"Based on the evidence, we agree with ALI that this expedition offers the best chance not only to solve perhaps the greatest mystery of the 20th century, but also to fulfill Amelia's wishes and bring the Electra home," Shultz said.
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