Those looking for the remains of Amelia Earhart’s missing aircraft now focus on a lagoon on Nikumaroro, a small island in Kiribati. They plan to dredge the area in search of an unidentified item they suspect may be the Electra 10E that disappeared in 1937.
Since 1938, photographs have shown a visible object called the Taraia Object, which appeared in images taken after the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan during their attempt to be the first female pilot to fly around the world. The island rests roughly 400 miles to the southeast of Howland Island, the place Earhart and Noonan intended to reach when they vanished.
Now a team from Purdue University and the Oregon-based Archaeological Legacy Institute is heading to Nikumaroro to examine the object. They previously said there is “very strong” evidence that the object is Earhart’s lost plane.
The Object That Won’t Go Away
The Taraia Object was identified as a “visual anomaly” in a lagoon on Nikumaroro. Researchers say it has appeared in photos dating back to 1938, the year after the disappearance.
Situated roughly midway between Australia and Hawaii, the atoll belongs to Kiribati. Its position puts it approximately 400 miles southeast of Howland Island, the destination toward which Earhart and Noonan were traveling when they disappeared.
Richard Pettigrew, from the Archaeological Legacy Institute, believes Earhart and Noonan landed on Nikumaroro and camped there. He says they survived on the island for some time, citing 1930s relics and human skeletal remains found there but lost over the decades.
“We owe it to Amelia’s legacy at Purdue to follow the evidence,” Steve Schultz, a senior vice president at Purdue University and field assistant on the expedition, told CBS News. Earhart lectured at the school before her final flight, and some of her belongings remain on display in the university’s archives.
The Plan to Dredge the Lagoon
Heritage Broadcasting Service’s Archealogy Channel will serve as the home for the team’s vlogs, short videos documenting the expedition. The approach they follow involves photographing and filming the lagoon, scanning it with magnetometers and sonar, and finally raising the object from the water.
Once the object reaches the surface, investigators will try to determine what it is. Every step of the operation will be captured on camera for the channel.
Skeptics Have Their Own View
NBC News spoke with Ric Gillespie, the executive director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, who said he believes the Taraia Object has no connection to the Earhart expedition. He expressed his doubts in 2025.
“We’ve looked there in that spot, and there’s nothing there,” he said.
For almost a century, investigators have hunted for the lost aircraft of the renowned pilot, hoping it will reveal what became of her. That doubt has accompanied the search throughout its long history.
In 2024, another expedition team captured a sonar image that seemed to resemble a plane resting at the bottom of the sea. But the object was later determined to be a rock formation.
The People Behind the Search
The current journey has Purdue University playing a central role, with Steve Schultz serving both as a senior vice president at the institution and as a field assistant on the project. Earhart’s connection to the school runs deep — she lectured there before her final flight, and some of her belongings remain on display in the university’s papers form part of the expedition’s record-keeping.
Another lead organization behind the project is the Archaeological Legacy Institute. Richard Pettigrew serves as its representative on the team.
The Ninety Nines is an international group for women pilots that Earhart helped create, and Wendy Rover, who belongs to it, said she hopes the mystery will one day be solved. Rover spoke with CBS News and said that while she is flying and searching for safe spots to land, she pictures Earhart doing the same thing over the Pacific.
“Amelia Earhart was out there. She was going through that exact same thing,” Rover said. “So yeah – what happened? What did happen? I would love to know.”
What Happens Now
A mission has started, with its members required to send back accounts of what they find as they move forward. Among their tasks, the removal of material from the Taraia Object stands as a central part of their scheme.
The object has been visible in photographs since 1938, and researchers say there is “very strong” evidence that it is Earhart’s lost plane. Whether that evidence holds up to scrutiny remains to be seen.
Key Facts Box
- Disappearance: 1937
- Photographs of Taraia Object: First visible in 1938
- Distance from Howland Island: About 400 miles
- Expedition organizations: Purdue University, Archaeological Legacy Institute
- Streaming documentation: Heritage Broadcasting Service, Archealogy Channel
Timeline of Key Events
- 1937 — Earhart and Noonan disappear over the Pacific
- 1938 — Taraia Object first visible in photographs
- 2024 — Sonar image of possible plane determined to be a rock formation
- 2025 — Ric Gillespie tells NBC News the Taraia Object is unrelated to Earhart
- Present — Expedition team travels to Nikumaroro to examine the object
A lengthy, frequently discouraging search has followed Earhart’s plane. Every fresh clue has drawn doubt, and every failure has deepened suspicion. The Taraia Object, however, keeps appearing in photographs, and investigators now believe it is time to resolve the question definitively.
The question of whether the item turns out to be the Electra 10E still hangs in the balance. The team is pursuing the evidence, and that commitment to the pursuit of truth is what counts most for Schultz.
“We owe it to Amelia’s legacy at Purdue to follow the evidence,” he said.
Source material: “Amelia Earhart investigators to study mysterious object in Pacific,” CBS News.
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