On July 2, 1937, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished without a trace during her attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world at the equator.
In early 2009, the Waitt Institute conducted an extensive deep-sea search for Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra aircraft in the area of the South Pacific where many researchers believe she crashed. The expedition, known as CATALYST 2, involved assembling a diverse group of experts from multiple backgrounds and institutions to identify areas to search for Earhart’s plane. The CATALYST team then utilized the Waitt Institute’s REMUS 6000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles to survey over 2,000 square miles of ocean floor at an average depth of 5,200 meters.
The Electra was not found during the expedition, but the data from the sea floor created a 2,000 square-mile exclusion zone where we now know the plane is not located. For the benefit of future researchers, the Waitt Institute is sharing all of these results, as well as a provocative, first-hand account of life aboard ship, at a specially designed new website known as Search for Amelia. One of the most comprehensive digital records on the life and legacy of Amelia Earhart available today, Search for Amelia is a collaborative site where comments and ideas about Earhart and her final flight are invited and encouraged.
Source: Waitt Institute, http://wid.waittinstitute.org/search-for-amelia