The HISTORY CHANNEL documentary “The Mysteries of Amelia Earhart” provided a good overview of the many theories regarding the Earhart/Noonan disappearance but, as with many television documentaries, the images you saw on the screen often did not portray the events described by the narrator. The show also perpetuated a number of myths such as:

• Noonan had a drinking problem. (A truly unfortunate rumor that began in 1966.)
• Earhart disregarded Noonan's advice on the flight from South America to Africa and landed at the wrong airport. (The original navigation charts for the flight show an agreed upon diversion for safety reasons.)
• The delay in the departure from Lae, New Guinea was due to a problem with one of Noonan’s instruments. ( Noonan had a hard time getting an essential time check for his chonometer because of communications difficulties at the ground station in Lae.)
• Earhart left an essential radio behind in Miami. (An antenna which may have proved useful was not reinstalled on the airplane when it was repaired in California.)
• The Electra was equipped with an inflatable raft. (There is no evidence that such a raft was aboard and some evidence that there was not.)
• Earhart and Noonan sent their parachutes home from Darwin, Australia. (Darwin is where they collected the parachutes that had been sent there for them.)

The program’s depiction of TIGHAR’s work was mostly accurate (the plexiglas artifact matches the Electra’s cabin windows, not the windshield) but much new information has come to light since the show was produced in 1998. On this website you’ll find a wealth of information about the Earhart/Noonan disappearance and TIGHAR’s ongoing effort to establish the truth about the fate of these great aviation pioneers. For an update I’d like to suggest that you read the Research Bulletin, “The Carpenter’s Daugher,” which includes photographs of what may prove to be the wreckage of the Electra.

If you’re interested in keeping up with, and even participating in, the latest research, you may want to sign up for the free Amelia Earhart Search Forum email group. You can read a sampling from this active and admittedly addictive feature on the Forum Highlights. And don’t forget to check out Common Earhart Myths and Forum FAQs and the Photos section and – well, if you’re an Amelia Earhart fan or if you just enjoy applying your brain to a great historical mystery, we think you’ll like it here. If you do, I hope you’ll accept my personal invitation to join TIGHAR and become a part of this historic effort.