Deep-sea explorer who discovered the wreck of the Titanic launches new mission to find Amelia Earhart's plane - Amelia Earhart natl geo.jpg ...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...t-mystery.html

*Robert Ballard, who discovered the Titanic in 1985, is setting off on new
mission

•He and a team will search near Nikumaroro atoll in the Pacific for the plane

•Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in July 1937 while on a trip

The deep-sea explorer who discovered the wrecked Titanic is tackling an aviation
mystery: Amelia Earhart's disappearance.

Robert Ballard and a National Geographic expedition will search for her plane
next month near a Pacific Ocean atoll that's part of the Phoenix Islands.

Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were attempting an around-the-world flight
when their aircraft disappeared in July 1937, spawning years of searches and
speculation.

Ballard and his team will use remotely operated underwater vehicles in their
search, the National Geographic channel said Tuesday.

An archaeological team will investigate a potential Earhart campsite with search
dogs and DNA sampling.

The channel will air a two-hour special on Oct. 20. 'Expedition Amelia' will
include clues gathered by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery
that led Ballard to the atoll, named Nikumaroro.

It comes just weeks after an expert on skeletal biology, Richard Jantz of the
University of Tennessee in the US city of Knoxville, claimed he found bones on a
Pacific island which are '99% likely' to be hers.

In 1940, bones were discovered on Gardner Island – now called Nikumaroro – 400
miles south of Earhart's planned stopover on Howland Island.

They were then sent for analysis in British Fiji, where Dr David Winn Hoodless
took measurements before the bones were lost.

Now, using those measurements, Dr Jantz has compared the bones to the probable
dimensions of Earhart's and reached a remarkable conclusion.

'What I can say scientifically is that they are 99% likely to be her,' he said.

Dr Jantz estimated the dimensions of comparable bones in Earhart's body by
analysing photos where she appeared alongside objects which can still be
measured today.

'We had the lengths of three bones that Hoodless reported lengths for,' said the
doctor.

'Then we realised there were some ways we could get more information about
Amelia Earhart's dimensions that could be compared directly to the bones.




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