A Forensic Emulation of the Second Attempt in 1937 by Aviatrix Amelia Earhart and Navigator Fred Noonan to circumnavigate the Earth

ABSTRACT

Articulated model of Earhart’s “Flying Laboratory” NR16020
Specifically created for use in this emulation.

Aviation history is full of amazing and death-defying stories that capture the imagination challenge new minds to push the limits of human endurance and engineering systems. May 20 1937, Amelia Earhart and her Navigator Fred Noonan, took off from Oakland, California with the intent of completing an equatorial circumnavigation of the Earth. On June 1, 1937 Earhart announced her intentions, closed the door on her specially modified Lockheed Electra and began the journey that would eventually culminate in the largest and longest running “manhunt” in history. Much is known and hypothesized about the last flight of Earhart and Noonan after they left Lae, New Guinea and headed 2556 miles over water to Howland Island however little is known of the flights around the world prior to their disappearance in stormy seas. During the 1937 attempt there was little support or interest, nationally nor globally of their flight. It was not until they were lost that the story gained its historical romance.

Using Analytical Graphics, Inc. emulation software Systems Toolkit, this scenario presents a forensic analysis of the twenty-six legs and more than thirty flights Earhart and Noonan successfully completed. Each flight is reconstructed in both two-dimensions and three-dimensions and simulates the actual flight time, speed, altitude and take off and landing procedures Earhart performed. Unfortunately, the most detailed records of the flights, listing exact times, dates, and route changes were lost when Earhart and Noonan vanished. Actual dates and times of flight events as well as radio frequencies are determined from extensive research and extrapolation from letters, newspaper reports and military records. The model will utilize waypoints and operate in “real time” resulting in a 44-day simulation of flight and ground stays. It begins with their covert flight out of Oakland, California, includes false starts, flyovers, and the initial search by U.S. Coast Guard vessels and Fixed Base Operators throughout the Pacific ending when the determination is made that the aircraft is lost.

The intended purpose of this forensic emulation is to be included in an exhibit at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver, Colorado that will educate new generations about the journey of Amelia Earhart and inspire more research into her life by providing an informative base. This is an ongoing and changing scenario as more information is discovered.