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ShowtimeSBMVP
05-29-2013, 04:35 PM
A grainy sonar image captured off an uninhabited tropical island in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati might represent the remains of the Electra, the two-engine aircraft legendary aviator Amelia Earhart was piloting when she vanished on July 2, 1937 in a record attempt to fly around the world at the equator.

Released by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which has long been investigating Earhart's last, fateful flight, the images show an "anomaly" resting at the depth of about 600 feet in the waters off Nikumaroro island, some 350 miles southeast of Earhart's target destination, Howland Island.

PHOTOS: Clues Pointing to Amelia Earhart's Plane

According to TIGHAR researchers, the sonar image shows a strong return from a narrow object roughly 22 feet long oriented southwest/northeast on the slope near the base of an underwater cliff. Shadows indicate that the object is higher on the southwest (downhill side). A lesser return extends northeastward for about 131 feet.

'[It's] very promising, definitely not a rock, and it's in the correct location on the reef.'

- Wolfgang Burnside, who conducted the underwater search

"What initially got our attention is that there is no other sonar return like it in the entire body of data collected," Ric Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR, told Discovery News.

"It is truly an anomaly, and when you're looking for man-made objects against a natural background, anomalies are good," he added.

A number of artifacts recovered by TIGHAR during 10 expeditions have suggested that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, made a forced landing on the island's smooth, flat coral reef. Gillespie and his team believe the two became castaways and eventually died there.

NEWS: Pieces of Amelia Earhart's Plane Located?

In July 2012, Gillespie and his crew returned to Nikumaroro to carry out an underwater search for the plane with a torpedo-shaped Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV).

Multi-beam sonar mounted on the ship mapped the underwater terrain and the AUV collected a volume of side-scan data along roughly 1.3 nautical miles of shoreline off the west end of Nikumaroro, while the ROV, capable of reaching depths of 3,000 feet, produced hours upon hours of high-definition video.

Plagued by a number of technical issues and a difficult environment, the hunt did not result in the immediate identification of pieces from Earhart's Lockheed Electra aircraft.

As they returned from the data collection trip, TIGHAR researchers began reviewing and analyzing all of new material recovered from the underwater search.

They identified a small debris field of objects at the depth of 200 feet, which TIGHAR forensic imaging specialist Jeff Glickman described as consisting of man-made objects.

Timeline

July 22, 2012: Underwater search for Earhart plane called off.

June 1, 2012: Dozens of previously dismissed radio signals may have been transmissions from Earhart, study says.

May 31, 2012: A small cosmetic jar offers more circumstantial evidence that Earhart died on uninhabited island.

Mar 20, 2012: Enhanced analysis of photo taken months after Earhart's plane vanished leads salvagers back to the island.

Dec. 17, 2010: Bone fragments and artifacts turn up on a deserted South Pacific island.

Located distinctly apart from the debris field of the SS Norwich City, a British steamer which went aground on the island's reef in 1929, the site features objects which appear consistent with the interpretation made by Glickmann of a grainy photograph of Nikumaroro's western shoreline.

The grainy photo was shot by British Colonial Service officer Eric R. Bevington in October 1937, just three months after Amelia's disappearance on July 2, 1937. It revealed an apparent man-made protruding object on the left side of the frame.

Forensic imaging analyses of the picture found the mysterious object consistent with the shape and dimensions of the wreckage of landing gear from Earhart's plane.

"The Bevington photo shows what appears to be four components of the plane: a strut, a wheel, a worm gear and a fender. In the debris field there appears to be the fender, possibly the wheel and possibly some portions of the strut," Glickman told Discovery News.

A new twist in the search occurred last March when Richard Conroy, a member of TIGHAR’s on-line Amelia Earhart Search Forum, spotted an anomaly in a sonar map posted online.

"The anomaly gives the impression of being an object that struck the slope at the base of the second cliff at a depth of 613 feet, then skidded in a southerly direction for about 131 feet before coming to rest," Gillespie said.

In its underwater search, TIGHAR missed the place where the anomaly appears by only a few hundred feet.

"If only we had continued just that little bit further," Wolfgang Burnside, president of Submersible Systems Inc and the inventor and pilot of ROV used to conduct the underwater search, said.

VIDEO: Search for Amelia Earhart Continues

He found the target "very promising, definitely not a rock, and it's in the correct location on the reef."

"It also shows what I interpret as 'drag' markings on the reef above and to the north behind the target, as it obviously hasn't quite settled into its final resting place yet," Burnside said.

Gillespie offers another explanation. “The apparent ground scar behind the object may also be a trail of internal components that spilled from the ripped-open fuselage.“

PHOTOS: Jars Hint at Amelia Earhart as Castaway

The anomaly appears to be the right size and shape to match the Electra wreckage and lines up nicely with the Bevington Object and Jeff Glickman's debris field.

According to Gillespie, the evidence found so far suggests a reasonable sequence of events:

• Earhart makes a safe landing on the dry reef and sends radio distress calls for at least five days.

• Before the seventh day when Navy search planes arrive, rising tides and surf knock the Electra off its landing gear and push it over the reef edge into the ocean, leaving a landing gear assembly (the Bevington Object) behind, jammed in the reef. Earhart and Noonan become castaways on the uninhabited, waterless atoll.

• The landing gear assembly stays jammed in the reef at least until October when Bevington took the photo, but at some point it breaks free and sinks, ending up in the catchment area at 200 feet where Glickman spotted pieces of it in the video.

• After going over the edge, the airplane is battered by the surf and sinks within a few minutes in the shallow water just past the reef edge. Subsequent storms cause pieces of wreckage to wash ashore where they are found and used by the island's later residents.

• Eventually the fuselage goes over the cliff, hits the slope at the bottom of the cliff at 600 feet and skids for a ways before coming rest more or less on its side with the starboard-side wing stub sticking up

The only way to be absolutely sure that the anomaly is indeed Amelia's plane is by sending another expedition to the island, but that will depend upon the ability of TIGHAR, a nonprofit institute that relies upon sponsorships and contributions from the public, to raise the needed funding.

"We currently project that it will take nearly $3,000,000 to put together an expedition that can do what needs to be done. It's a lot of money, but it's a small price to pay for finding Amelia," Gillespie said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/05/29/amelia-earhart-plane-found-sonar-images-may-have-pinpointed-wreck/#ixzz2UiwHfQ9B



http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/05/29/amelia-earhart-plane-found-sonar-images-may-have-pinpointed-wreck/

BlackHelicopters
05-29-2013, 04:39 PM
Didn't know she was dead.

Fish
05-29-2013, 04:42 PM
Yup. It's right there.

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/8494/earhart20anomaly.jpg

Hammock Parties
05-29-2013, 04:45 PM
wonder if there's anything left of the old bag

'Hamas' Jenkins
05-29-2013, 04:47 PM
wonder if there's anything left of the old bag

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view1/4652150/i-ate-the-bones-o.gif

Hog's Gone Fishin
05-29-2013, 05:31 PM
That would be a good find. Someone will make millions.

OrtonsPiercedTaint
05-29-2013, 05:38 PM
This happens about twice a year. Has Earhart's plane been found? Then nothing...

Frazod
05-29-2013, 05:49 PM
Didn't know she was dead.

She's in the Delta Quadrant.

Hammock Parties
05-29-2013, 05:50 PM
She's in the Delta Quadrant.

:LOL:

Fucking Voyager references.

Discuss Thrower
05-29-2013, 05:54 PM
She's in the Delta Quadrant.

Wow.

Donger
05-29-2013, 05:56 PM
She's in the Delta Quadrant.

:spock:

Frazod
05-29-2013, 05:58 PM
Tough room. LMAO

HonestChieffan
05-29-2013, 06:02 PM
Obama will finance it. That said, i hope they found the wreck. Would be very cool.

crossbow
05-29-2013, 06:11 PM
Where are the naked pictures?

Dayze
05-29-2013, 06:21 PM
Prayers sent

patteeu
05-29-2013, 06:43 PM
This happens about twice a year. Has Earhart's plane been found? Then nothing...

The last few times though, it's always been at this same spot. It seems like this might be it.

Just Passin' By
05-29-2013, 06:49 PM
Where are the naked pictures?

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.5001056584533292&pid=15.1

loochy
05-29-2013, 06:53 PM
Tough room. LMAO

Frazod, Hootie said you weren't funny. That was funny.

Dayze
05-29-2013, 06:54 PM
http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.5001056584533292&pid=15.1

LMAO



Too fat / Omaha (obligatory)

PunkinDrublic
05-29-2013, 06:57 PM
The bad driving ability of most native Kansans also applies to flying planes.

J Diddy
05-29-2013, 07:05 PM
LMAO



Too fat / Omaha (obligatory)
Bullshit. You can't say she's too fat, she's been on a crash diet and is nothing but bones.

Donger
05-29-2013, 07:20 PM
Frazod, Hootie said you weren't funny. That was funny.

Embarrassing, but would you explain the joke for me please?

-King-
05-29-2013, 09:48 PM
http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.5001056584533292&pid=15.1

:LOL:

Gonzo
05-29-2013, 11:14 PM
Earnhardts eyes are next up. Lost in the Bermuda grass triangle behind turn four....

KCFaninSEA
05-29-2013, 11:17 PM
Where's Hoffa senior?

Nickel D
05-30-2013, 12:27 AM
:spock:

Too soon??

007
05-30-2013, 03:12 AM
She's in the Delta Quadrant.

:LOL::LOL:

BlackHelicopters
05-30-2013, 05:16 AM
Trying to figure out why this matters.

WhiteWhale
05-30-2013, 05:53 AM
While we haven't found smoking gun evidence, there's plenty of circumstantial evidence that makes it pretty obvious. We've known for years where she crashed, we just couldn't prove it.

Radar Chief
05-30-2013, 07:23 AM
Bullshit. You can't say she's too fat, she's been on a crash diet and is nothing but bones.

I take it you don’t know Omaha? Dayze beat me to it but I was going to go the opposite direction with that and post “Hawt /Omaha”.

MIAdragon
05-30-2013, 07:29 AM
Trying to figure out why this matters.

Because she was an American hero that simply vanished. Mysteries are fun, books with out an ending suck.

lcarus
05-30-2013, 07:56 AM
Yup. It's right there.

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/8494/earhart20anomaly.jpg

This looks like one of those "birds and bees" videos where the sperm is fertilizing an egg.

Seriously though...what the hell is that?

Dayze
05-30-2013, 08:05 AM
looks like a pile of gold.

lcarus
05-30-2013, 08:10 AM
looks like a pile of gold.

Like a Scrooge McDuck game made for CD-i

loochy
05-30-2013, 08:35 AM
Embarrassing, but would you explain the joke for me please?

The Delta Quadrant is the common designation for one-quarter of the Milky Way Galaxy. Its boundary is defined by a meridian passing through the galactic core and the Sol system, and a second meridian 90° perpendicular at the core. Its closest point to Earth is located approximately 30,000 light years away.

It is home to thousands of species, including the Kazon, Talaxians, Ocampans, Borg, Vidiians, Hirogen, Krenim, and many others.

The Crux Arm of the galaxy is located in the Delta Quadrant, as are the stars or star clusters M14 and M80. (Star Trek: Voyager background graphic)

Humans were first planted in the Delta Quadrant by a race known as the Briori around the year 1937 as a form of slave labor. The slaves rebelled and their descendants built a new civilization on a Class L planet. (VOY: "The 37's")

The Delta Quadrant was first visited by Humans of their own free will on stardate 32629.4, when the USS Raven followed a Borg vessel into a transwarp conduit. (VOY: "Dark Frontier") The first Starfleet mission into the Delta Quadrant occurred during an inspection of the Barzan wormhole in 2366. (TNG: "The Price")

Due to the immense distance between the Alpha and Delta Quadrants (an Intrepid-class starship would take thirty years to reach the edges of the quadrant at its maximum warp velocity), the Federation knew very little about this region of space until 2371, when the starship USS Voyager was pulled into the quadrant by an alien force called the Caretaker. When contact was reestablished with the starship in 2374, hundreds of kiloquads of data on the region was received, increasing the Federation's knowledge of the quadrant immensely.

seaofred
05-30-2013, 08:39 AM
The Delta Quadrant is the common designation for one-quarter of the Milky Way Galaxy. Its boundary is defined by a meridian passing through the galactic core and the Sol system, and a second meridian 90° perpendicular at the core. Its closest point to Earth is located approximately 30,000 light years away.

It is home to thousands of species, including the Kazon, Talaxians, Ocampans, Borg, Vidiians, Hirogen, Krenim, and many others.

The Crux Arm of the galaxy is located in the Delta Quadrant, as are the stars or star clusters M14 and M80. (Star Trek: Voyager background graphic)

Humans were first planted in the Delta Quadrant by a race known as the Briori around the year 1937 as a form of slave labor. The slaves rebelled and their descendants built a new civilization on a Class L planet. (VOY: "The 37's")

The Delta Quadrant was first visited by Humans of their own free will on stardate 32629.4, when the USS Raven followed a Borg vessel into a transwarp conduit. (VOY: "Dark Frontier") The first Starfleet mission into the Delta Quadrant occurred during an inspection of the Barzan wormhole in 2366. (TNG: "The Price")

Due to the immense distance between the Alpha and Delta Quadrants (an Intrepid-class starship would take thirty years to reach the edges of the quadrant at its maximum warp velocity), the Federation knew very little about this region of space until 2371, when the starship USS Voyager was pulled into the quadrant by an alien force called the Caretaker. When contact was reestablished with the starship in 2374, hundreds of kiloquads of data on the region was received, increasing the Federation's knowledge of the quadrant immensely.


Wow...

Chief Henry
05-30-2013, 08:42 AM
LMAO



Too fat / Omaha (obligatory)



Its Bush's fault.

journeyscarab
05-30-2013, 08:46 AM
broke apart in mid-air?

Donger
05-30-2013, 09:00 AM
The Delta Quadrant is the common designation for one-quarter of the Milky Way Galaxy. Its boundary is defined by a meridian passing through the galactic core and the Sol system, and a second meridian 90° perpendicular at the core. Its closest point to Earth is located approximately 30,000 light years away.

It is home to thousands of species, including the Kazon, Talaxians, Ocampans, Borg, Vidiians, Hirogen, Krenim, and many others.

The Crux Arm of the galaxy is located in the Delta Quadrant, as are the stars or star clusters M14 and M80. (Star Trek: Voyager background graphic)

Humans were first planted in the Delta Quadrant by a race known as the Briori around the year 1937 as a form of slave labor. The slaves rebelled and their descendants built a new civilization on a Class L planet. (VOY: "The 37's")

The Delta Quadrant was first visited by Humans of their own free will on stardate 32629.4, when the USS Raven followed a Borg vessel into a transwarp conduit. (VOY: "Dark Frontier") The first Starfleet mission into the Delta Quadrant occurred during an inspection of the Barzan wormhole in 2366. (TNG: "The Price")

Due to the immense distance between the Alpha and Delta Quadrants (an Intrepid-class starship would take thirty years to reach the edges of the quadrant at its maximum warp velocity), the Federation knew very little about this region of space until 2371, when the starship USS Voyager was pulled into the quadrant by an alien force called the Caretaker. When contact was reestablished with the starship in 2374, hundreds of kiloquads of data on the region was received, increasing the Federation's knowledge of the quadrant immensely.

I still don't get it. What does Earhart have to do with the Delta Quadrant? Was she in an episode of ST Voyager or something?

Backwards Masking
05-30-2013, 09:04 AM
crossing my fingers her female lover was going down on her when she crashed.

it would not only prove road head is dangerous to women too, it would also make that Melissa Etheridge jealous something fierce.

Trivers
05-30-2013, 09:05 AM
Bullshit. You can't say she's too fat, she's been on a crash diet and is nothing but bones.

Groan! :)

loochy
05-30-2013, 09:12 AM
I still don't get it. What does Earhart have to do with the Delta Quadrant? Was she in an episode of ST Voyager or something?

He's saying that her plane got magically transported to the delta quadrant by aliens or something and that's why nobody can find her. Think Bermuda Triangle sort of situation.

ModSocks
05-30-2013, 10:11 AM
This looks like one of those "birds and bees" videos where the sperm is fertilizing an egg.

Seriously though...what the hell is that?

That's Amelia Earhart's plane. Can't you tell? It's pretty damn obvious, any trained eye can tell that's an airplane.

Dayze
05-30-2013, 10:16 AM
if you stare at the picture long enough, you can see Frankie's house.

ModSocks
05-30-2013, 10:18 AM
if you stare at the picture long enough, you can see Frankie's house.

I tried but i don't see any Pineapples.

loochy
05-30-2013, 10:20 AM
if you stare at the picture long enough, you can see Frankie's house.

? I can't see it

http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/on-deadline/2010/03/03/cavex-large.jpg

lcarus
05-30-2013, 10:54 AM
That's Amelia Earhart's plane plane. Can't you tell? It's pretty damn obvious, any trained eye can tell that's an airplane.

It looks like maybe a plane plane in an Atari 2600 game.

http://cgrempire.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/airraiders_264.jpg

loochy
05-30-2013, 10:57 AM
Yup. It's right there.

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/8494/earhart20anomaly.jpg

Man, that couldn't be any more obvious. I mean the wings, the propeller, it's all there.

lcarus
05-30-2013, 10:59 AM
Man, that couldn't be any more obvious. I mean the wings, the propeller, it's all there.

The plane is so pixelated, it's no fucking wonder it crashed.

Dayze
05-30-2013, 10:59 AM
The plane is so pixelated, it's no ****ing wonder it crashed.

LMAO

Rain Man
05-30-2013, 11:00 AM
It looks like maybe a plane plane in an Atari 2600 game.

http://cgrempire.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/airraiders_264.jpg


She was flying in the days before Atari, so her plane would be even more pixilated.

loochy
05-30-2013, 11:02 AM
She was flying in the days before Atari, so her plane would be even more pixilated.

http://videogamecritic.com/images/2600/polaris.png

lcarus
05-30-2013, 11:07 AM
I'm guessing she's gone. Obliterated by a spaceship from another galaxy.

http://pdroms.de/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/20080211_UFO_Traffic_v1.5_(A2600_Game).JPG

Dayze
05-30-2013, 11:09 AM
sonar has identified the yoke, throttle, flaps, trim, fuel gage, compass, OBSetc.

http://videogamecritic.com/images/systems/7800controller.jpg

lcarus
05-30-2013, 11:13 AM
sonar has identified the yoke, throttle, flaps, trim, fuel gage, compass, OBSetc.

http://videogamecritic.com/images/systems/7800controller.jpg

She didn't go down, down, up, up, left, left enough and missed her landing.

http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/images/2/20/Top_Gun_-_NES_-_Landing.png

Rain Man
05-30-2013, 11:15 AM
It would've been weird to live in the pre-high-res days. For example, here's an oil painting of my great-great-great-great grandfather back around 1850.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQbn49jAo_FsAbt5OneZat11kLgarVqEUndpxHC-vkpizi9rG1f

lcarus
05-30-2013, 11:16 AM
It would've been weird to live in the pre-high-res days. For example, here's an oil painting of my great-great-great-great grandfather back around 1850.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQbn49jAo_FsAbt5OneZat11kLgarVqEUndpxHC-vkpizi9rG1f

Was he Amish?

bevischief
05-30-2013, 11:17 AM
The Delta Quadrant is the common designation for one-quarter of the Milky Way Galaxy. Its boundary is defined by a meridian passing through the galactic core and the Sol system, and a second meridian 90° perpendicular at the core. Its closest point to Earth is located approximately 30,000 light years away.

It is home to thousands of species, including the Kazon, Talaxians, Ocampans, Borg, Vidiians, Hirogen, Krenim, and many others.

The Crux Arm of the galaxy is located in the Delta Quadrant, as are the stars or star clusters M14 and M80. (Star Trek: Voyager background graphic)

Humans were first planted in the Delta Quadrant by a race known as the Briori around the year 1937 as a form of slave labor. The slaves rebelled and their descendants built a new civilization on a Class L planet. (VOY: "The 37's")

The Delta Quadrant was first visited by Humans of their own free will on stardate 32629.4, when the USS Raven followed a Borg vessel into a transwarp conduit. (VOY: "Dark Frontier") The first Starfleet mission into the Delta Quadrant occurred during an inspection of the Barzan wormhole in 2366. (TNG: "The Price")

Due to the immense distance between the Alpha and Delta Quadrants (an Intrepid-class starship would take thirty years to reach the edges of the quadrant at its maximum warp velocity), the Federation knew very little about this region of space until 2371, when the starship USS Voyager was pulled into the quadrant by an alien force called the Caretaker. When contact was reestablished with the starship in 2374, hundreds of kiloquads of data on the region was received, increasing the Federation's knowledge of the quadrant immensely.

ROFL

Fish
05-30-2013, 11:28 AM
Man, that couldn't be any more obvious. I mean the wings, the propeller, it's all there.

Yeah.. only a complete idiot could miss that...

Dayze
05-30-2013, 11:29 AM
It would've been weird to live in the pre-high-res days. For example, here's an oil painting of my great-great-great-great grandfather back around 1850.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQbn49jAo_FsAbt5OneZat11kLgarVqEUndpxHC-vkpizi9rG1f

dude...I think we're related.