On Saturday, a team of researchers will embark on an expedition to the South Pacific in an attempt to solve the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. The crew will include two marine archaeologists from Pensacola.
For Michael Krivor and Will Wilson, being a part of this expedition to a distant location to identify Amelia Earhart’s missing plane is the adventure of a lifetime.
“Yeah, absolutely. This is by a long shot the highest profile project I’ve been on and for me the most remote, also by a long shot,” proclaimed Wilson, who is an underwater archaeologist at the University of West Florida Archaeology Institute.
“And we are joined by a lot of big names, big folks that are helping out on the project, so I’m really excited.”
As a co-founder of the underwater archaeology firm, RECON Offshore, Michael Krivor has been to several remote sites. But he concedes that this case involving Amelia Earhart’s lost plane is one of the most famous in aviation history, as it went missing during her 1937 mission to become the first woman to fly around the world along the equator.
“There was no bigger name at the time, in the 1920s and 1930s, than Amelia Earhart,” said Krivor. “I mean, she really was a pioneer for women and flight, and she really worked across the board to not only set records, but really to advocate for women in aviation. So, it’s remained a mystery for 90 years, and we’re hoping to put some closure to that mystery.”
The search for Earhart’s plane will take Krivor and Wilson on a long trip to Nikumaroro, part of the Republic of Kiribati. There they’ll begin an offshore excavation of what’s officially known as the Taraia Object — which they hope to identify as Earhart’s plane.
“The Taraia Object is located within the lagoon, so we’re working in a relatively protected environment and, fortunately, a fairly shallow water environment,” Krivor stated. “This object was originally seen or discovered through aerial satellite imagery by a gentleman named Michael Ashmore, who saw this object, saw its linear features, and thought, ‘Well, maybe that’s associated with Amelia Earhart,’ and that’s kind of spawned this entire expedition.”
It’s an honor to be going along, but it was the respected reputation and work of RECON Offshore to recover individuals listed as Missing in Action that got Krivor’s company, which was co-founded by Jason Burns, invited to join the project.
“The first that I participated in was looking for the pilot of an F6F Hellcat in Palau, which we did. The plane had already been found, but we were able to recover the pilot,” Krivor explained. “And, you know, that brings us around to the work that we’ve been fortunate to deal with regards to downed aircraft, and that’s how we got approached by Archaeology Legacy Institute (ALI).”
RECON got a call from ALI executive director Rick Pettigrew, who’s also leading the expedition in conjunction with Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue University, which had ties to Earhart. And thanks to their work with UWF’s maritime archaeology program, they asked Wilson to be a part of the project.
At the UWF Marine Research Center, Wilson has laid out examples of the different types of equipment that they’ll be taking along.
“As you can see, there are a lot of Pelican cases and a lot of wild-looking, missile-torpedo-like objects,” said Wilson, in part describing a magnetometer. “This detects various material; primarily, we’re using it to detect iron and steel. So we can still detect that material even if it’s buried, so obviously, really important.”
Additionally, they’ve packed and shipped a side-scan sonar, generator, and lots of other equipment they’ll need as the expedition’s only maritime archaeologists.
“We are flexing every muscle in our underwater archaeology bodies,” Wilson began. “So, starting with the reconnaissance part, with the remote sensing, the geophysical survey. We’ll both be doing all that and then selecting targets from it and then getting in the water with air in our mouths coming from a compressor to detect the target with the hydro probes and then use our induction dredges to try to uncover it.”
This Taraia Object Expedition has been in the works for over a year-and-a-half. They’ve used that time to be as prepared as they can to be able to identify it as Earhart’s missing plane. In recent months, there’s been lots of conversation and email exchanges between members of the crew. Also, the group has been doing extensive research on the plane so they can look for specific features.
“We’ve already been to Seattle to the Boeing Aviation Museum; they have a Lockheed 10 Electra on site that we were actually able to get into and look at. And we’ve even been to the Naval Aviation Museum here in Pensacola; they have a Lockheed 10 plane as well,” said Krivor, pointing out that this Lockheed Model10 Electra had a specific rivet pattern to it. “So we will be able to document the rivet pattern, get those measurements to these other folks that have Lockheed Model 10 Electras in-house and compare notes, and that’ll help us identify whether we’re looking at a part of Amelia Earhart’s plane.”
And, if they can positively identify the object as Earhart’s plane, it would be enormous, for the world and for these local archaeologists.
“It’s such a huge thing,” Wilson declared. “With this, every person I’ve spoken to, I don’t have to tell them who Amelia Earhart is. That really speaks to how big it is and, so, if we are able to find this evidence, evidence of the Electra, absolutely enormous.”
Krivor agreed.
“For 90 years, there’s never been a clear answer to what happened to Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan,” he reminded. “So, if I can put my name to that, you know, assist with that at all from my previous experience, it would be a crowning achievement in my career.”
The team will meet in Los Angeles on Saturday to begin their journey. Regardless of their findings, the object will be documented, and the expedition declared a success.
If the object is Earhart’s plane, expedition leaders will immediately begin planning to return for a full-scale archaeological excavation in 2027.
