https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/intriguing-experiment-aims-to-recreate-amelia-earhart-distress-calls/Intriguing Experiment Aims to Recreate Amelia Earhart Distress Calls
September 21, 2020
By Tim Binnall
An intriguing new experiment centered around the final distress calls of Amelia Earhart may provide new insights into where the lost aviatrix ultimately met her fate. The thought-provoking project, which will reportedly take place later this month, is being conducted by the deep sea exploration organization Nauticos and radio engineer Tom Vinson. Their plan is to fly a vintage plane off the coast of Virginia and, using the same type of radio equipment that Earhart had during her doomed flight, recreate her final messages.
At the time of Earhart's disappearance, those distress calls were picked up by the US Coast Guard Cutter Itasca. For the purposes of the project, the team has enlisted a historic boat by the name of Nellie Crockett to attempt to receive the cries for help using equipment that is also from the era when the pioneering pilot vanished. Their hope is that modern technology running alongside the experiment will allow them to measure the strength of these signals and, in turn, determine the distance Earhart had been from the Itasca.
"Through the tests we can narrow down the band of how far was she for her last several transmissions," Vinson explained. Once the group has that data in hand, they believe they can work backwards from the known spot where the Itasca was stationed to find where Earhart's flight may have come to an end. Should the project prove successful, the team plans to retrieve the lost airliner and then have it taken to California by way of Hawaii so that the historic flight can be symbolically completed.