Robert Ballard to look for Amelia Earhart

ffuries · **Posted:** Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:44 pm

Robert Ballard will team up with Nat-Geo to search for Amelia Earhart's aircraft. He found the Titanic, so maybe he'll get lucky.

My only issue is, if you read the article, is that they mention The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) as if they are a legit venture. Which we all know better.

https://www.foxnews.com/science/amelia- ... geographic

JohnB · **Posted:** Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:41 pm

Don't worry, if they find anything (pretty unlikely...small airplane, big ocean), our little friends will take all the credit.

By the end of this, RG will be wearing his safari suit on NBC saying how he's directing Ballard's search, and spinning sea yarns about his nautical experiences.

ffuries · **Posted:** Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:57 pm

JohnB wrote:

Don't worry, if they find anything (pretty unlikely...small airplane, big ocean), our little friends will take all the credit.

By the end of this, RG will be wearing his safari suit on NBC saying how he's directing Ballard's search, and spinning sea yarns about his nautical experiences.

Yeap, well said........RG loves to toot his own horn about how good he and TIGHAR are.

aerojock · **Joined:** Sat Mar 12, 2005 2:58 am **Posts:** 148

Did Ballard not say he was going to search forAmelia's plane years ago? If I remember correctly (I probably don't) did he not buy a PBY to aid in the search?

ffuries · **Posted:** Wed Jul 24, 2019 4:37 pm

aerojock wrote:

Did Ballard not say he was going to search forAmelia's plane years ago? If I remember correctly (I probably don't) did he not buy a PBY to aid in the search?

I think you're right, sounds like I remember something along those lines. Maybe it's finally going to happen, hence the article.

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:00 am

This was announced some years ago. In fact the first thing I did when I clicked on this thread was check the date of the post as at first I thought someone had resurrected an old one.

Ballard is likely the only one in the world with a chance of finding the Electra. That he'll find it is very unlikely (I doubt that there's anything left to find unless it's in VERY deep water.) But I'm sure he'll find some other very cool stuff in the process! I can't wait.

JohnB · **Posted:** Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:56 am

Does Ballard still work for Woods Hole...and isn't Woods Hole federally funded?

Unless he's doing it with private money, I'd hope there will be some honesty and candid discussion of the search, something "the group" has lacked.

It would be great to ask Ballard directly where he's looking and whether or not his location is influenced by TIGHAR's theories/c!aims.

In other words, how much, in any, TIGHAR"Kool-Aid" has he ingested?I

I've always said I don't have heartburn over their pet island theory per se, just in the ways they have oversold and promoted it....like saying the crash and sink theory was unlikely (huh?..they disappeared over water), and tying anything and everything found on the island (shoes, poop, metal, shards of glass that might be from a freckle cream jar that AE might ...but not definitely known, to use).
After 30+ years, coming up with nothing other than the weakest of circumstantial evidence. Sorry, "could have" and " maybe " are not scientifically valid. They must not have watched "Mythbusters" or even "Big Bang Theory" .

They then weaken their credibility by attacking those whose work doesn't support their theory, like the character assassination of the doctor who actually examined the now missing bones they claim were AE's and personally attacking the work by the two Australian scientists (with genuine degrees) who published a paper disagreeing with them.
Didn't they also threaten a lawsuit against WIX?

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Thu Jul 25, 2019 1:22 am

I'd just about bet the farm that she's somewhere within a hundred miles of Howland, in any direction. If she had the gas to fly 350 miles down to the Phoenix Islands then she certainly had time to be transmitting that information in the blind, over and over again instead of there just being... silence. She ran out of gas (probably flying in circles at about a thousand feet) and kept flying until her fuel was completely exhausted, then deadsticked it into the water, blew it, and the wreckage quickly sank. I'll bet all of you a cold, Oshkosh beer that if Ballard finds it the props aren't even feathered and the two of them are still in it.

quemerford · **Joined:** Tue Jun 17, 2014 4:19 pm **Posts:** 1596

Whilst I have to applaud Robert Ballard's intent to find Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan (because if anyone will do it he will), it does worry me that TIGHAR is involved in any capacity. I have to say I'm surprised by it but as others have said, if he finds other cools stuff then it should be a worthwhile effort.

jdvoss · **Posted:** Thu Jul 25, 2019 7:15 am

He's wasting his time and money. His resources would be better allocated to the search for the Japanese carriers that were all sunk in the Battle for Midway.

JDV
www.fuselagecodes.com

quemerford · **Joined:** Tue Jun 17, 2014 4:19 pm **Posts:** 1596

jdvoss wrote:

He's wasting his time and money. His resources would be better allocated to the search for the Japanese carriers that were all sunk in the Battle for Midway.
JDV
http://www.fuselagecodes.com

...or the Yamato.

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Thu Jul 25, 2019 8:20 am

I thought the Yamato was found? I thought I saw a picture online of the Chrysanthemum on the bow covered in barnacles?

menards · **Joined:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:46 pm **Posts:** 543

Dan Jones wrote:

I'd just about bet the farm that she's somewhere within a hundred miles of Howland, in any direction. If she had the gas to fly 350 miles down to the Phoenix Islands then she certainly had time to be transmitting that information in the blind, over and over again instead of there just being... silence. She ran out of gas (probably flying in circles at about a thousand feet) and kept flying until her fuel was completely exhausted, then deadsticked it into the water, blew it, and the wreckage quickly sank. I'll bet all of you a cold, Oshkosh beer that if Ballard finds it the props aren't even feathered and the two of them are still in it.

I think you're spot on here. Howland was pushing the max range of the electra She was close, but with no way to communicate with the Itasca, and flying at 1,000 ft with scattered clouds, she was helpless.

Now factor in that her water ditching skills were un-polished, at best. If the plane broke apart upon landing, it would have quickly sank. I dont think that its outside of the realm of possibly that pieces of the electra washed up on Gardner Island years later, (like we have seen with MH370) but i think its unlikely that they flew the extra 350 miles to get there. Their fuel ran out shortly after the 8:43AM transmission they were flying the 157/337 line...

airnutz · **Posted:** Thu Jul 25, 2019 1:09 pm

Dan Jones wrote:

I thought the Yamato was found? I thought I saw a picture online of the Chrysanthemum on the bow covered in barnacles?

Yup, back in 1985.

StangStung · **Posted:** Thu Jul 25, 2019 1:18 pm

It seems odd that Ballard would say, "I'm going to look for X" without having a pretty good idea of where to find X.

Why not just go do your search, then tell people when you found it?

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Robert Ballard to look for Amelia Earhart

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