The Latest Search for Amelia Earhart Appears to have Failed – For Now

For some time now a new $2.2 million expedition to uncover the final facts about the disappearance of famed female aviator Amelia Earhart, appeared to be close to some answers. However that hope to finally find the wreckage Earhart’s aircraft has reportedly failed.

The group was hoping to find the aircraft wreckage from Earhart’s attempt to cross the Pacific on her final leg of a historic trip around the world some 75 years ago. Earhart was flying along with navigator Fred Noonan from New Guinea to Howland Island on July 2, 1937 when their plane lost radio contact and was never seen again.

The disappearance of Earhart has long been a source of rumor and mystery. This recent expedition was rumored to be very close to clearing up the mystery and finding the aircraft wreckage, but it appears that is not to be.

According to a report from the AP, the group leading the search, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, is still convinced that Earhart crashed onto a reef off a remote island in the Pacific Ocean.

“This is just sort of the way things are in this world,” TIGHAR president Pat Thrasher said. “It’s not like an Indiana Jones flick where you go through a door and there it is. It’s not like that – it’s never like that.”

Not totally closing the chapter, however, the team was able to collect a significant amount of video and sonar data, which they will go over looking for things that may be tough to see at first glance. Reportedly, the group is also planning a voyage for next year to scour the land where it’s believed Earhart survived a short while after the crash.