Deep-sea researchers share possible Amelia Earhart findings with Atchison museum

By Kirsten Stokes

The remains of the lost flight of Amelia Earhart are potentially a step closer to being recovered after a deep-sea researching team has possibly pinpointed the lost plane near Howland Island in the Pacific. Now, they’re bringing the findings to Atchison, Kansas.

“Anytime you have an opportunity in a community our size to be able to witness and be firsthand live at something like this, it’s a huge opportunity for people,” said board member Jacque Pregont with the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum in Atchison.

The Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum will bring Tony Romeo, chief executive officer of Deep Sea Vision, together with leading and competing deep-sea explorers to debate the sonar image that Romeo and his team found and discuss the extraordinary challenges all explorers face in the race to find Earhart’s plane.

The two-day event starts on July 19, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at the Fox Theatre in Atchison and continues on July 20, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., at the O’malley-Mcallister auditorium at Benedictine College.

With a cost of $2 million, a team of 16 individuals dedicated over three months aboard a vessel slightly exceeding 100 feet in length, utilizing sonar technology to survey 5,200 square miles of the ocean floor near Howland Island in the Pacific.

In January, they unveiled a picture that caused a stir in the media and sparked a debate: a blurry silhouette resembling an airplane, possibly similar to Earhart’s aircraft.

“There’s no other known crashes in the area and certainly not of that era and that’s kind of design with the tail that you see clearly in the image,” Romeo said in an NBC interview.

Pregont said that this event is more than just acknowledging the findings of Deep Sea Vision, but bringing awareness to the wide variety of STEM education and women who have made a difference in aviation.

“We tell Amelia’s story, but we also are 14 hands-on STEM activities that teach science and so education is a huge part of why we started a museum and why we built it,” Pregont said.

Programs are free to the public for the weekend. Registration is required, as seating is limited.

To learn more about the program and register visit, ameliaearharthangarmuseum.org