By Tim Binnall
A deep-sea exploration group searching for Amelia Earhart's lost plane is optimistic about the effort thanks to an intriguing experiment re-creating her final radio transmissions. The company Nauticos has reportedly been looking for the pioneering pilot's Lockheed Electra since 1997 after owner Dave Jourdan "told my team that we had been so successful at finding everything we saw on the first try that we needed to try something harder." Looking back on that peculiar call to action from nearly 30 years ago, he mused, "I do regret those words, because this has been a really tough one." However, after three unsuccessful expeditions, Jourdan believes the group may be on the cusp of solving the mystery thanks to an unexpected possible breakthrough.
The reason for optimism, the Nauticos owner explained, came by way of the serendipitous garage sale discovery of the same kind of radio that was in Earhart's Lockheed Electra at the time of her disappearance. After acquiring the device, the group re-created the pioneering pilot's last transmissions from a similar aircraft contacting a boat positioned where the Coast Guard cutter Itasca received the messages in 1937. Jourdan and his team subsequently used measurements from the experiment to determine what they strongly suspect was the aircraft's final location. As announced back in August, Nauticos hopes to put the theory to the test with a new expedition to the area in the not-too-distant future, provided they can obtain funding for the ambitious endeavor.