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In the 2-hour season premiere of Expedition Unknown, adventurer Josh Gates hunts down new evidence on the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. He treks to uncharted tribal lands in Papua New Guinea and ends his journey in Fiji, hoping to uncover the pilot’s remains.

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Transcript
00:00:00Amelia Earhart is on one of the final legs of her historic flight around the world
00:00:11when something goes terribly wrong.
00:00:16She is never seen again.
00:00:24Today, more than 75 years after her disappearance,
00:00:28new leads send me across the world in search of answers.
00:00:32If you want to get more information, head down to Rabaul.
00:00:35Get to Rabaul.
00:00:36Earthquake.
00:00:41We heard that your tribe has found wreckage in the jungles.
00:00:45Look at this. Rob, come here.
00:00:46September 1940, this is a man named Gerald Gallagher.
00:00:50Found a partial skeleton. This might be Amelia Earhart.
00:00:53Did they go through the underside of this house with a fine-toothed comb?
00:00:57No, no further investigation.
00:00:59We've heard reports of some aircraft wreckage.
00:01:01They think it may be Earhart's plane.
00:01:03And the only way to know is to go out and see what we can find.
00:01:06Oh, Rod, I got a plane. Rod, I got a plane for sure. Come here.
00:01:10Look at that. That's a plane.
00:01:12It all leads to a series of amazing discoveries.
00:01:19It's an airplane engine, yeah?
00:01:21Yeah?
00:01:22Oh, definitely an airplane engine, yeah.
00:01:23Unbelievable.
00:01:26Definitely an airplane. Look at that!
00:01:30This does not look like coral to me.
00:01:35I got a bone down here.
00:01:37My name is Josh Gates.
00:01:44With a degree in archaeology and a passion for exploration,
00:01:49I have a tendency to end up in some very strange situations.
00:01:53There has got to be a better way to make a living.
00:01:56My travels have taken me to the ends of the earth
00:01:59as I investigate the greatest legends in history.
00:02:01We're good to fly. Let's go.
00:02:03This is Expedition Unknown.
00:02:13Every year, thousands of people go missing, never to be seen again.
00:02:17But there is one cold case that looms above all the rest.
00:02:21Amelia Earhart.
00:02:23Just the name evokes a sense of wonder.
00:02:26Her disappearance during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937
00:02:30is perhaps the most iconic unsolved mystery in the world.
00:02:34Now, with breakthroughs in technology and the discovery of new evidence,
00:02:38we may be close to solving the puzzle once and for all.
00:02:411937. Amelia Earhart is arguably the most famous woman in America,
00:02:48a pioneer in the field of aviation, and a living legend.
00:02:53On July 2nd, Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan,
00:02:56are set to make history as they begin one of the last legs
00:02:59of their daring trans-world flight.
00:03:02They take off from an airfield in Ley, Papua New Guinea,
00:03:05bound for remote Howland Island in the Pacific.
00:03:08Along the way, Earhart, her navigator,
00:03:11and the famed Lockheed Electra vanish.
00:03:19In the last 75 years, there have been countless dead-ends,
00:03:22false leads, and wild conspiracy theories.
00:03:25But no answers.
00:03:27Well, all that may be about to change,
00:03:29because recent developments in two different parts of the world
00:03:32may finally crack the case.
00:03:35Theory 1.
00:03:36A team of experts recently identified a piece of aluminum debris
00:03:39on the Pacific Atoll of Nicomararo, just south of Howland,
00:03:43which they believe may be a part of Earhart's Electra.
00:03:46Human bones were also discovered on this same deserted island in 1940,
00:03:51only to be shipped to Fiji and lost.
00:03:53Could these be the bones of Amelia Earhart?
00:03:57A new search is currently underway in Fiji to locate the remains and identify them.
00:04:04Theory 2.
00:04:05Earhart circled back toward Papua New Guinea
00:04:07and crashed on or around the island nation she took off from.
00:04:10It's a long-standing hypothesis that's never been fully explored.
00:04:14But now, one local tribe claims to have found wreckage deep in the jungle,
00:04:18and there are new reports that there's also an underwater wreck just offshore.
00:04:23Either could be Amelia's plane.
00:04:26I have been fascinated with Amelia Earhart for my entire life,
00:04:29and I am eager to know if these new leads may bring us closer to the truth
00:04:33or whether the world is looking in the wrong place.
00:04:36The only way to find out is to join the search.
00:04:46There is new evidence that Amelia Earhart's plane may have crashed
00:04:49in the nation she last took off from, so I'm here to investigate.
00:04:55Wheels down Papua New Guinea, or PNG as the locals call it.
00:04:59Inside the terminal, the local baggage claim is less of a belt and more of a deli counter.
00:05:08Order up.
00:05:09This is an interesting system, but it works.
00:05:12Thank God my umbrella made it.
00:05:15Oh, sorry.
00:05:18What are the odds?
00:05:19Two guys with the same umbrella.
00:05:20Mine must still be coming.
00:05:22While I wait, it's clear that some of my other equipment may not have made it here either.
00:05:26I'm missing, um, 799 and 872.
00:05:33This is not warm in here.
00:05:34That would really make this frustrating.
00:05:36Perhaps the customer service reps know where my bag is.
00:05:41Looking good.
00:05:43Perhaps not.
00:05:44Eventually, I'm resigned to never seeing my extra underwear,
00:05:47sensible evening shoes, and whatever else was in case 799.
00:05:51Well, time to hit the streets.
00:05:53There are international capitals in the world with worse reputations, but not many.
00:05:59This is Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea, also the largest city in the South Pacific.
00:06:05That's kind of a rough reputation.
00:06:06It can be a little dangerous, a little gritty.
00:06:08But if you can look past its imperfections, it's actually a pretty cool spot.
00:06:12I like to think of Port Moresby as the Mos Eisley spaceport from Star Wars.
00:06:18On one hand, the cantina bar has a good happy hour.
00:06:21On the other hand, Han Solo might shoot you in the face.
00:06:24In other words, it pays to watch your back.
00:06:27Which is exactly what these guys are here to do.
00:06:29Hey, Josh.
00:06:30Are you Dean?
00:06:31I am.
00:06:32Nice to meet you.
00:06:33Good to meet you.
00:06:34Yeah, good to meet you too.
00:06:35Hey, I'm Jack.
00:06:36Hey, Jack, how are you?
00:06:37Nice to meet you.
00:06:38Good to meet you, sir.
00:06:39I'm good.
00:06:40How are things here at PNG?
00:06:41Good, thanks.
00:06:42Looking safe and secure?
00:06:43As safe as PNG can be.
00:06:44Yeah?
00:06:45How safe is that?
00:06:46This is our insurance policy in case something goes wrong.
00:06:48In case it's not safe.
00:06:49Yes.
00:06:50Great.
00:06:51Perfect.
00:06:52So why the muscle?
00:06:53Well, with rampant political corruption and gang-controlled neighbourhoods,
00:06:57the capital can get a little… interesting.
00:06:59But I like interesting.
00:07:01And Port Moresby is the gateway to one of the wildest nations on Earth.
00:07:05It's made up of a thousand different ethnic tribes speaking more than 800 languages.
00:07:11Even the National Parliament House is diverse,
00:07:14a modern government building fused with an ancient tribal spirit house.
00:07:18The people here, generally speaking, are fiercely independent.
00:07:22Locals are more apt to identify with their clan than with their fellow countrymen.
00:07:26Case in point, the Asaro Mudmen.
00:07:32Legend has it that this tribe was once on the cusp of defeat in battle,
00:07:35and retreated into the nearby river.
00:07:37When they emerged, caked in dried white mud,
00:07:40their enemies believed they were evil spirits and fled in terror.
00:07:44I can't say I blame them.
00:07:50Hi.
00:07:51Not very talkative.
00:07:59It's heavy.
00:08:01Those are real teeth?
00:08:04I'm not going to ask where those came from.
00:08:06Today, thousands of years later, they still pay homage to that legendary battle.
00:08:11And the tradition continues with me.
00:08:14It's okay?
00:08:15Yeah?
00:08:16Yeah?
00:08:17Yeah.
00:08:18What do you think?
00:08:19I think I'm an honorary mud man now.
00:08:20This vast melting pot of Papua New Guinea played center stage as one of the last stops on Erhardt's round-the-world flight.
00:08:36But I'm not just here for nostalgia purposes.
00:08:39There are those who believe that Erhardt didn't just take off from PNG, but that she may have circled back here.
00:08:45Newly discovered wreckage in the jungles and in the ocean are waiting to be examined.
00:08:50So from the capital, I'm boarding a flight to investigate the last documented sighting of Erhardt's Electra.
00:08:56It's a 45-minute trip from Port Moresby to Ley, where Erhardt began one of the final legs of her fateful journey.
00:09:05Ley is a bustling industrial port that links the coastal waters of PNG to the wild highlands of the interior.
00:09:12I'm here to meet with a local tribe who has information on a recently found wreck.
00:09:16But first, I have an important stop to make.
00:09:18In the middle of town, this narrow field of grass is today an empty lot, a place to stack shipping containers.
00:09:25Its true significance has been overgrown by the dense wilderness of history.
00:09:30Doesn't look like much today, but this is the old Ley airfield.
00:09:33This is the very last place that anybody saw Amelia Erhardt alive.
00:09:38On May 21, 1937, Amelia Erhardt departs Oakland, California in an audacious attempt to be the first woman in history to circumnavigate the globe.
00:09:47Over 21 days and 25,000 miles, Erhardt and her navigator Fred Noonan make stops along the top of South America before crossing Central Africa, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia.
00:10:00Finally, she lands in Papua New Guinea.
00:10:04It was here, on July 2, 1937, in this very spot, that a fuel-heavy Lockheed Electra plane gained momentum and took off into the blue for the very last time.
00:10:17The whole world was watching, and that shiny Lockheed Electra would have come right down here, taken off right over the Pacific, never to be seen again.
00:10:26I don't know, for me as someone who loves Erhardt, who really has been obsessed with her for a long time, to be here in this spot is kind of, I don't know, emotional.
00:10:39It's kind of a powerful place.
00:10:40With only 7,000 miles left to go, it's easy to imagine the excitement she must have felt at being in the home stretch.
00:10:49But she still had to face her most difficult challenge, crossing the immense Pacific Ocean.
00:10:56Amelia's next stop is Howland Island, about 2,500 miles and 18 long hours away.
00:11:02Howland is merely a speck in the vast South Pacific Ocean, but the plane must land and refuel for the final onward flights to Honolulu and Oakland.
00:11:10Earhart transmits one of her last radio messages to the United States Coast Guard ship, Itasca, which is stationed offshore to help guide her to the island.
00:11:20We must be on you, but cannot see you. Have been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet.
00:11:26The Itasca receives the transmission, but Amelia apparently can't hear the Coast Guard's response. Her radio is likely damaged.
00:11:35Soon after, Earhart, her navigator Fred Noonan, and the Electra disappear.
00:11:40The only evidence here in Ley of that historic flight is this.
00:11:49A weathered, and by the looks of it, mostly forgotten memorial to a woman whose daring adventure still soars in our imaginations.
00:12:01Having made the pilgrimage here, I feel even more inspired to search for answers.
00:12:06To find them, I've arranged a meeting with a tribal chief to discuss the news reports of a recently found wreck in the jungles to the north.
00:12:16At the end of a long dirt road, I'm walked to a makeshift wall of what looks like jungle fronds.
00:12:29Coming up, 13-year-old boy, you find human bones under your house?
00:12:33It freaked me out. It never, ever came back into my life until I read this thing about Amelia Earhart.
00:12:40Was the rest of that crawl space under the house thoroughly explored?
00:12:43No, not at all.
00:12:44Really?
00:12:45Never.
00:12:46I got a bone down here.
00:12:48My goodness.
00:12:49There's more down here. There's more down here.
00:12:52It's everywhere I look. I mean, I'm putting the skeleton together down here.
00:12:54I'm in Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific, following new leads in the search for Amelia Earhart.
00:13:07I've come to a local village to meet with a chief who has information about a wreck that's recently been found in the jungles.
00:13:12He leads me to what appears to be a wall of palm fronds.
00:13:16This is the craziest welcome I've ever seen. I mean, I assume it's a welcome. I could be murdered in the next ten minutes. I don't know.
00:13:39This is not a tourist attraction.
00:13:46This is not a theme park. This is the real deal.
00:13:50It's called a sing-sing, a ritual in which villages come together through song and dance.
00:13:56Reasonably certain that I'm not going to end up as a human pincushion, I relax and enjoy the welcome.
00:14:01Like many other tribes in Papua New Guinea, its people are caught between the past and the present.
00:14:07It seems only fitting that I meet them halfway.
00:14:09Good look for me, right?
00:14:14Good look for me, right?
00:14:27Thank you! Good night!
00:14:30Thank you, Leigh!
00:14:32We'll be here all week!
00:14:33Okay, I may not be Ringo Starr, but my drumming is good enough that my crew and I have been invited to don the tribe's colors and join the clan.
00:14:42It's a genuine honor, though something tells me that they use more than food coloring in these strong-smelling paint.
00:14:48Saliva? Is there saliva?
00:14:51Great.
00:14:56What do these markings mean?
00:14:57Brave warrior?
00:15:00Yeah.
00:15:01Yeah, right.
00:15:03Village idiot, probably.
00:15:05That's all.
00:15:06Is that it?
00:15:07Yeah.
00:15:08Okay, how do I look?
00:15:11I am joining the tribe.
00:15:16Once the sing-sing winds down, I'm granted an audience with the village elder named Iru, while my security guard serves as translator.
00:15:23So how many people live here in the village?
00:15:26How much can I establish that place?
00:15:28More than 2,500.
00:15:30More than 2,500, wow.
00:15:312,400, because it's a very big village.
00:15:33Yeah.
00:15:34I'm not the first Westerner to come here.
00:15:36These are the direct descendants of the tribes that Earhart met in 1937.
00:15:41Through oral tradition, they have preserved the memory of her time in PNG.
00:15:44So listen, you know, we're very interested in Amelia Earhart, and I've been told that you have some knowledge, some stories about her.
00:15:51What can you tell me?
00:15:54According to our elders, when she landed here, it was very exciting for our village and for Papua New Guinea.
00:16:01At that time, airplanes were very uncommon.
00:16:04Most people had never seen a plane.
00:16:06Some had never seen a white woman.
00:16:08It was a big event when she took off.
00:16:11But other tribes say that she circled back here.
00:16:14That the plane crashed not far from their village.
00:16:18Those tribes weren't the only ones who thought she crashed in PNG.
00:16:22In 1945, an Australian corporal was on patrol in the same jungles and stumbled on something that has baffled experts.
00:16:29A rusted and badly damaged airplane engine.
00:16:31Though he didn't know his exact position, he did jot down a partial serial number on a weathered map.
00:16:38Intriguingly, S3H1 is the same model series as the Electra.
00:16:43And 1055 matches the construction number of her plane.
00:16:47And has anybody since then been able to find the wreck?
00:16:50Just a few weeks ago, we heard from the village that the Banning tribe in Rabao found the wreckage.
00:16:57They think it might be a plane.
00:17:01Airplane.
00:17:03Due to the largely impenetrable jungles, the plane spotted in 1945 has never been relocated.
00:17:09But now, it sounds like this remote tribe may have finally stumbled across the mysterious wreck.
00:17:14So why wasn't anyone searching here earlier?
00:17:18Within hours of Earhart's disappearance, the US launched one of the most extensive manhunts in history.
00:17:23But based on fuel calculations, only searched a four-hour flight radius from Howland, which included the nearby Gilbert and Phoenix Islands.
00:17:31But some experts believe those calculations are wrong.
00:17:35To keep the plane as light as possible, Earhart left key navigational instruments behind.
00:17:40Though she should have had only four hours of fuel remaining when she reached Howland, if she was off course, and if she flew conservatively, researchers have argued that the Electra could have limped back to PNG, only to crash before landing.
00:17:52He says that if you want to get more information, head down to Rabao and then check the people up in the tribes out there and go for the search.
00:18:01Get to Rabao.
00:18:02Yeah.
00:18:03Okay.
00:18:04And the tribe in Rabao, they're friendly?
00:18:07They can be aggressive, but you'll be okay.
00:18:09I'll be okay?
00:18:10You'll be okay.
00:18:11Thank you very much.
00:18:12Your village is incredible.
00:18:14Ah!
00:18:15Whoa!
00:18:16Earthquake!
00:18:17Whoa!
00:18:18Whoa!
00:18:19Whoa!
00:18:20Whoa!
00:18:21Look out!
00:18:22Whoa!
00:18:23Holy ****!
00:18:24I'm in Papua New Guinea investigating the theory that famed pilot Amelia Earhart could have crash-landed here.
00:18:36One of the villagers has new information that a fellow tribe to the north has found a wreck in the jungle that could be her missing aircraft.
00:18:43He says that if you want to get more information, head down to Rabao and then check the people up in the tribes out there and go for the search.
00:18:50Get to Rabao.
00:18:51Yeah.
00:18:52Whoa!
00:18:53Earthquake!
00:18:54Whoa!
00:18:55Whoa!
00:18:56Watch out!
00:18:57Whoa!
00:18:58Whoa!
00:18:59Whoa!
00:19:00Holy ****!
00:19:01Whoa!
00:19:02Holy ****!
00:19:03Whoa!
00:19:04Holy ****!
00:19:05Whoa!
00:19:06Holy ****!
00:19:07That was insane.
00:19:08It happens a lot.
00:19:09It happens a lot here.
00:19:10That happens a lot here.
00:19:11Yeah, yeah.
00:19:12I mean, that was like, the whole planet just went like this.
00:19:25Massive earthquake during an interview?
00:19:27Check.
00:19:28I made it through unscathed and so did the rest of the village.
00:19:32Even the pigs.
00:19:34Life goes on.
00:19:35And so does my search for Earhart.
00:19:41With a substantial lead in the jungles to the northeast, I'm carrying on with my investigation.
00:19:47From Ley, I'm traveling about 400 miles to the island of New Britain and touching down in the former capital of Rabao.
00:19:55The island, like much of PNG, looks to be a paradise on Earth.
00:19:59And it is.
00:20:00But it also has a dark history.
00:20:02Just beneath the jungle canopy, long silenced anti-aircraft guns still point to the skies.
00:20:08A reminder that this paradise was once a war zone.
00:20:11PNG's strategic location just north of Australia made it prime real estate for the Japanese during World War II.
00:20:18If you look closely along the side of the road, you can still catch sight of foreboding tunnels that bore into the mountains.
00:20:25Inside is another world.
00:20:28This is actually the remains of an underground Japanese hospital.
00:20:31All told, there are more than 500 miles of tunnels underneath Rabao.
00:20:36And a lot of them are filled with bats and creepy crawlies.
00:20:39After capturing Rabao in 1942, the Japanese Empire immediately set their army to work, digging miles and miles of serpentine tunnels to shelter their forces from Allied attacks.
00:20:51By 1943, Rabao was home to over 100,000 Japanese troops.
00:20:56Ghosts of the past are everywhere.
00:21:01Tanks.
00:21:02Weapons.
00:21:03Bombs.
00:21:04One tunnel even contains the decomposing remains of massive Japanese landing barges.
00:21:09I have to wonder.
00:21:10With all these abandoned relics of war, there must have been hundreds of downed planes here.
00:21:15Which makes the hunt for Earhart's Electra a nightmare.
00:21:20Nearby, I descend into one of the most historic bunkers in the world.
00:21:26This fortification was the base of operations for the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
00:21:31This is Admiral Yamamoto's bunker from World War II.
00:21:36He's the guy who orchestrated the attack at Pearl Harbor at Midway.
00:21:39And this was the Japanese base of naval operations in World War II.
00:21:43You can still see writing on the walls.
00:21:46It's all perfectly preserved under all this concrete.
00:21:49Absolutely astounding piece of World War II history.
00:21:52From this austere war room, Admiral Yamamoto's forces coordinated the theater of war in the Pacific.
00:21:57Until his plane was shot down leaving Rabaul in 1943.
00:22:03Back above ground, I make my way to a nearby market.
00:22:06To meet with a World War II aviation expert and PNG historian.
00:22:10Who can shed more light on the rumors of a wreck in the jungles of Rabaul.
00:22:19While I wait for him to arrive, I have time to sample PNG's favorite addiction.
00:22:23You may notice that nearly everyone here has a red-stained mouth.
00:22:27That's because of this.
00:22:29Boo-Eye is a seemingly random recipe of betel nut, mustard stick, and lime.
00:22:34Show me how I do this.
00:22:36I use my teeth to open it?
00:22:38Already doesn't seem like a good idea.
00:22:41That's not good for your teeth.
00:22:43Okay.
00:22:44Oh, I want the middle piece.
00:22:45I see. Soft piece.
00:22:46Boom. The whole thing.
00:22:47Yeah.
00:22:48Okay.
00:22:49Oh, it's bitter.
00:22:50Now what?
00:22:51Small one.
00:22:52Small one.
00:22:53In the lime.
00:22:55The ingredients are combined and chewed, producing torrential amounts of bright red saliva,
00:23:00which Papuans spit on just about every surface in sight.
00:23:04Maybe one more?
00:23:05No, that's enough.
00:23:06Believe it or not, this is the fourth most consumed drug in the world after nicotine, booze, and coffee.
00:23:12It is definitely not recommended by the American Dental Association, and for the uninitiated,
00:23:17the chemical combination can be a little intense.
00:23:21Whew.
00:23:22It's starting to feel a little dizzy.
00:23:26It's good.
00:23:27What does it do?
00:23:28When you're sleeping, you take this one and your eyes open.
00:23:31Your eyes open.
00:23:32I don't know about that.
00:23:33My eyes are about to close.
00:23:36Whew.
00:23:38Whew.
00:23:39Where all these people come from?
00:23:42I don't think we die.
00:23:45Okay, I'm just gonna lay here for a while until the world stops spinning.
00:23:53Moments later, I'm back on my feet.
00:23:55Sort of.
00:23:56Apologies, just give me a moment here, it wears off fast.
00:24:01I'm good, let's go.
00:24:04Finally feeling less dizzy, I'm ready to meet up with historian Rob Rowenson.
00:24:08As an aircraft expert with the organization Pacific Wrecks, Rob lives here and speaks Papuan dialects, making him a critical intermediary between outside investigators and the remote tribe that claims to have found a downed plane in the jungle.
00:24:22We've had someone report say there was an engine there and some parts of an aeroplane.
00:24:27Of course, you get these reports and then you have to go there yourself and try and determine what sort of aeroplane it was.
00:24:32Yeah.
00:24:33What's the road like out to this village?
00:24:34It's rough.
00:24:35You need vehicles that can handle those sort of conditions.
00:24:37I do know of a vehicle that might help you out.
00:24:40Okay.
00:24:56Once airborne, we loft up over the island of New Britain and head toward the unknown.
00:25:00The helicopter will fly us 40 miles inland to the remote village of Vuna Lama.
00:25:06Below us are some of the wildest and least explored jungles on Earth.
00:25:10Papua New Guinea is often referred to as the Lost World and for good reason.
00:25:15More new species are discovered here than anywhere else on Earth, an average of two a week.
00:25:21The tribes that live in these jungles exist off the grid and far from the reach of modern laws.
00:25:26There are still isolated reports of murder, cannibalism, and sacrifice associated with sorcery and tribal beliefs.
00:25:34Rob, there's supposed to be a village at these coordinates, yes?
00:25:37We have a survivor to prove it up.
00:25:39I'm sorry, no.
00:25:40We'll find out when we get on the ground.
00:25:42Rob's contacts have given us the rough location of the Baining village that reported the wrecked plain,
00:25:47but all we're seeing is jungle.
00:25:49I'm genuinely concerned here, since landing in the wrong tribe's territory could be a fatal mistake.
00:25:55But with the weather worsening, we've got one shot at this, so we touch down in a nearby clearing.
00:26:00Good, we're down.
00:26:01My cameraman leaps out first to film the landing, and before I can unhook my harness, he realizes that we've got company.
00:26:08They're just over there f***ing angry looking, bro!
00:26:11They're here to meet us!
00:26:12Look over there on the other side!
00:26:13With my helicopter pilot not sticking around to see how this turns out, we're on our own.
00:26:26Wait!
00:26:27Wait!
00:26:28Wait!
00:26:29Wait!
00:26:30Wait!
00:26:31Hey!
00:26:32I've just been dropped into the jungles of Papua New Guinea, looking for a local tribe with information about a plane wreck that could be Amelia Earhart's.
00:26:43We're good.
00:26:44We're down.
00:26:45I'm not sure if this is a welcome crew or a war party, but at 6'3", I'm a pretty easy target for a well-aimed projectile.
00:26:57Wait!
00:26:58Wait!
00:26:59Wait!
00:27:00Wait!
00:27:01Hey!
00:27:02How are you?
00:27:03Fine.
00:27:04All right.
00:27:05Nice to meet you.
00:27:06What's your name?
00:27:07Bill!
00:27:08Bill!
00:27:09Yes!
00:27:10You don't look like a Bill!
00:27:11Nice to meet you!
00:27:12Hello!
00:27:13Hello!
00:27:14What's your name?
00:27:15Clemens!
00:27:16Nice to meet you!
00:27:17You have a place we can get out of the rain.
00:27:18Yeah?
00:27:19Some place with cover.
00:27:20You may go along place.
00:27:21It's not going to rain too much, sir.
00:27:22Yeah, very.
00:27:23Yeah?
00:27:24Okay, great.
00:27:25Let's go.
00:27:27It turns out that Bill and Clement are more likely to offer me tea than the pointy end of their spears.
00:27:32I don't know.
00:27:33That was a little touch and go there for a minute.
00:27:35You were worried I could have put a spear through you.
00:27:37Yeah.
00:27:38The show of force is just a ritual greeting of the Baining tribe, and the children from the village run out to have a good laugh at our expense.
00:27:44Evan, I found an umbrella for your camera.
00:27:47I mean, what kind of land of the lost leaf is this?
00:27:51Here you go.
00:27:52Stay dry.
00:27:53With the rain coming down, we need to get to the village as quickly as possible before the downpour destroys our camera equipment.
00:28:00Okay, let me probably like sit down dry.
00:28:03Go dry, all right?
00:28:04Did you catch Rob's translation?
00:28:06The Baining tribe, like many Papuans, speak pidgin that consists largely of English and German words repurposed into a unique language.
00:28:14Though the vocabulary is familiar, it sounds like total gibberish.
00:28:18One-time camera now.
00:28:19Kiss me, you pal a lot of camera?
00:28:20Yeah.
00:28:21Number one time, huh?
00:28:22Yes.
00:28:23This is the first time I've ever had any people out here with cameras.
00:28:26Really?
00:28:27Yeah.
00:28:28That's what I was asking.
00:28:29I'm thankful when we finally arrive at the village, and even more thankful that these jawbones aren't human.
00:28:33Okay, first order of business is just to get dry, to get the equipment dry, yeah?
00:28:37It looks like they are, like, in real time, making a shelter.
00:28:41Can I help?
00:28:42What can I do?
00:28:43These first?
00:28:44Yeah.
00:28:45Up, up, up.
00:28:46We're in the middle of the jungle, but in no time at all, our new friends have built us a cozy guest house.
00:28:51This is now a couch they've made, and they're adding banana leaves as cushions.
00:28:55Amazing.
00:28:56This is the fastest construction crew I've ever met.
00:28:58Five minutes flat.
00:29:00Addition to your house.
00:29:02This jungle is their home, and the tribe has welcomed me with five-star accommodations.
00:29:08And a complimentary beverage.
00:29:11I'm anxious to speak to the chief about the wreck they discovered.
00:29:17But first, the tribe insists on welcoming us with a sacred fire dance.
00:29:21This is a seldom seen ritual.
00:29:35So the women have gone away?
00:29:37The women have gone away.
00:29:38Why is that?
00:29:39Because we're allowed to see this sort of thing.
00:29:41Wow.
00:29:42Only men are allowed to participate or watch.
00:29:44If any women in the village were to witness this, they would be killed.
00:29:48The men tend the fire, feeding it until the flames begin to devour the darkness.
00:29:54At which point, the dance begins.
00:29:56The dancers are completely barefoot and attempt to ward off evil spirits by passing directly through the flames and embers.
00:30:09It goes right into the fire.
00:30:11Yeah.
00:30:12It's amazing.
00:30:13The dance is performed to initiate young men into adulthood.
00:30:16Or in this case, to celebrate visiting outsiders.
00:30:22The dance itself is frenetic, wild, and not for the faint of heart.
00:30:28And I feel totally overwhelmed at being able to witness it firsthand.
00:30:32With the ceremony complete and my eyebrows singed, I'm granted access to the chief to discuss the plane wreck in the jungle.
00:30:43Which could be Earhart's lost Elektra.
00:30:45That was incredible.
00:30:46I've never seen anything like that.
00:30:48Thank you for welcoming us here.
00:30:49Yeah.
00:30:52We heard these stories that your tribe has found wreckage in the jungles.
00:31:00Yeah, there's some wreckage in the bush.
00:31:02They don't know who they came from.
00:31:04Is the wreckage definitely from an airplane?
00:31:07It's from a plane.
00:31:09From a plane.
00:31:10How far is the wreckage from the village?
00:31:12I'm stopping at inside there.
00:31:13He says the wreckage is close by.
00:31:15Yeah.
00:31:16And could we have permission to go and to look at the wreckage?
00:31:18Can you guide us and show us where it is?
00:31:24People who know exactly where it is, they will guide us.
00:31:26Terrific.
00:31:27Yeah.
00:31:28Let's do it.
00:31:29Okay.
00:31:38The jungles of New Britain are no joke, especially at night.
00:31:41But some believe that Earhart's Elektra could be out here, waiting in the darkness.
00:31:54These are real deal jungles.
00:31:57A lot of predators out here.
00:31:58Snakes, spiders.
00:32:00And we're very far from a hospital, so we have to be very, very careful going through here.
00:32:05Whoa, big hole right here.
00:32:06Whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:32:07Big hole.
00:32:08Drops down.
00:32:09What do you think?
00:32:10Impact point?
00:32:11It could be, yeah.
00:32:12In 1945, in these very jungles, an Australian army patrol stumbled on a crash site they believed
00:32:16was Earhart's.
00:32:18But no one ever found it again.
00:32:20Could this be the same wreck?
00:32:24Oh, that's a piece of wreckage for sure.
00:32:25Look at this.
00:32:26Rob, come here.
00:32:27It's an airplane engine, yeah?
00:32:28Oh, definitely an airplane engine, yeah.
00:32:29They're taking the propellers off.
00:32:30Let's get the vines off it.
00:32:31Earhart's Elektra was a twin prop plane.
00:32:32We've found one engine, and I'm desperate to find another.
00:32:33The problem is, the wreckage is scattered all over the jungle.
00:32:34Rob, check this out.
00:32:35There's an interlocking piece there.
00:32:36It looks like a fold.
00:32:37Maybe this is the strut?
00:32:38Part of the strut.
00:32:39Part of the strut.
00:32:40Part of the strut for the wheel, maybe?
00:32:41Yeah.
00:32:42This looks like, what do you think?
00:32:43Part of the exhaust or something like that?
00:32:44Yeah.
00:32:45I would say that when the plane came in at you, it burned.
00:32:46It burned quite severely.
00:32:47Something over there?
00:32:48Yeah.
00:32:49Let's go look.
00:32:50More.
00:32:51Rob, we've got more over here.
00:32:52We've got a twin prop plane.
00:32:53We've found one engine, and I'm desperate to find another.
00:32:54The problem is, the wreckage is scattered all over the jungle.
00:32:56Rob, check this out.
00:32:57There's an interlocking piece there.
00:32:58It looks like a fold.
00:32:59Maybe this is the strut?
00:33:00Out of the strut.
00:33:01Part of the strut.
00:33:02Part of the strut.
00:33:03Part of the strut.
00:33:04There?
00:33:05Yeah.
00:33:06Let's go look.
00:33:07More.
00:33:08Rob, we've got more over here.
00:33:10Unbelievable.
00:33:11Look at this.
00:33:18I'm in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, investigating a wreck that could be Amelia Earhart's lost plane.
00:33:24Suddenly, we find a crucial piece of evidence.
00:33:28Something over there?
00:33:29More.
00:33:30Rob, we've got more over here.
00:33:32Unbelievable.
00:33:33what is this part it's not the landing gear it's part of the undercarriage yeah so we're looking
00:33:39at part of the wing yeah yeah this will be part of the wing and it's been fairly badly burnt too
00:33:43yeah it looks very burned let's pull out that schematic of the Electra
00:33:47so Electra is a twin engine Lockheed yeah this looks like a twin or a single to you
00:33:54well I think it's a twin and what leads you to believe that it's a twin engine
00:33:57because this is a very strong undercarriage right on a single engine airplane it's usually
00:34:02just the one strut right we have a twin strut here it's rated engine too same type of engine design
00:34:08right engine design all right well she's still a candidate then there should be another engine
00:34:13here somewhere have you found a second engine no no one only I mean if it hits so hard I mean it
00:34:18could have gone 200 meters down the buddy bush you know Electra had Pratt & Whitney engines that's
00:34:22right yeah can you tell if it's a Pratt & Whitney or not well I can't that's the problem it may
00:34:26well be a Pratt & Whitney or if we can get close and see some identification take a look let's see
00:34:29if we can get some identifying marks off the engines in 1945 an Australian army patrol found
00:34:35a Pratt & Whitney engine here in this jungle and they were convinced it belonged to Earhart's Electra
00:34:40if this is the same engine we might have struck gold I wish we had a propeller or something like
00:34:46that because on propellers you have dates on them someone's taking a lot of the stuff away from here
00:34:50although Rabaul is littered with wrecks Earhart's plane has features that distinguish it from most World
00:34:55War II aircraft it was designed with a unique twin tail unpainted aluminum body and was packed with a
00:35:01dozen fuel tanks in the fuselage and wings to feed the twin Pratt & Whitney wasp engines on her long
00:35:07flight any tags or identifiable parts with serial numbers have either been stolen or destroyed most of
00:35:14what looters left behind is burned beyond recognition so we can't really tell if it's a Pratt & Whitney or not
00:35:19maybe because we can't find any identifying marks on it right there's got to be something we're
00:35:24missing I've just realized something this is the undercarriage leg of a dual leg undercarriage the
00:35:31undercarriage on an Electra is a single oleo leg right the wishbone on the bottom and the wheel
00:35:36between them forks over the wheel that's right forks over the wheel it indicates to me a much heavier
00:35:41aircraft this wreck has two full struts on each side of the wheels but Earhart's Lockheed Electra had a
00:35:47single strut for each wheel with a wishbone that wrapped around the tire a subtle but damning
00:35:52piece of evidence my opinion is at present it's not an Electra now what I think it is is probably
00:36:00Japanese and the only way to identify that is to take this information that I have now and compare it
00:36:06with information that I have back in Rabao so wheel structure doesn't match the Electra so we know it's
00:36:11not Earhart's plane definitely not but still a mystery still a mystery and an important mystery
00:36:16yeah well people died here so it deserves our attention most certainly it's not Earhart's plane
00:36:23but with further investigation this wreck will solve a different mystery and answer questions
00:36:28about the demise of another downed pilot thank you very much for showing us this also we're
00:36:33going to need somewhere to sleep helicopter will be back in the morning all right we're down to our
00:36:39very last torches here let's get back to the village otherwise we're going to be like this plane we're
00:36:42going to be out here forever by the light of a new day we leave the jungle behind and head back to
00:36:51Rabao the wreck may or may not be the same one that the Australians found in 1945 either way we know that
00:36:58it isn't Earhart's plane but this isn't the only developing lead here in PNG locals believe that
00:37:06unidentified underwater wreckage off the coast of Rabao may in fact be the missing Electra after
00:37:12grabbing a set of wheels I'm rumbling my way over to where Rabao used to be back on the ground headed
00:37:18over to old Rabao or what's left of it that is an active volcano named Vulcan still active very much
00:37:26alive very dangerous this is one of two very pissed off looking volcanoes that loom over Rabao but its twin
00:37:33brother Tarvivoor is the one to keep an eye on in 1937 an eruption killed more than 500 people and less
00:37:42than a month before my arrival it decided to wake up again
00:37:55along the side of the road here you see this big wall it's just 10 feet tall of ash and we're just driving over
00:38:00volcanic ash all of this is just from the most recent eruption looking up at the hills nearly every
00:38:06palm tree in sight is scorched to bits okay we should be coming into Rabao as I approach the crater
00:38:13and the coordinates of old Rabao it might seem like I'm in the wrong spot but the town is here I'm just
00:38:19driving on top of it peeking up from the ash are the ghostly remains of an entire city destroyed by the
00:38:27volcanoes in 1994 motels nightclubs banks entire city streets gone perched atop the ring of fire png is
00:38:39one of the most volcanic nations in the world the earthquake I felt in lay is not a good sign and
00:38:44judging by the billowing smoke rising from Tarvivoor and the boiling water coming up by my feet I'm
00:38:50suddenly struck by a question what the hell am I doing here well nobody said looking for Earhart was
00:38:57going to be easy or safe so I'm channeling my inner explorer and pressing on with the search
00:39:05the wreck in the jungle was one of two leads here next I'm going to explore another promising theory that
00:39:11Earhart crashed in the waters off Papua New Guinea next stop here is to meet with a guy named Rod a dive
00:39:17expert and a World War two historian and he knows more about downed aircraft in these parts in the
00:39:22waters than anybody recently local divers reported seeing wreckage off of Rabao that they believe
00:39:28looks like the Electra to check out the report I make my way down to the harbor which is today home
00:39:34to a listing collection of ghost ships decimated by the volcano but amidst the waterlogged fleet are a
00:39:40few seaworthy vessels one of which is captained by Rod Pierce hey how are you yeah nice to meet you
00:39:48yeah pleasure so I hear you're the man in the know about airplane wrecks yes yes been researching them
00:39:53since the 70s and there's a lot of them here there's from World War two there's over 500 in the gazelle area
00:40:00amazing amazing I look for MIAs and seek closure to a lot of people from pilots from all nations
00:40:08Japanese Australians Americans how do you locate these wrecks basically with sonar and that will
00:40:15draw you an outline of of a plane or a wreck or whatever you're looking for we've heard reports
00:40:22recent reports of some aircraft wreckage out here near Rabao and some people sort of whispering that
00:40:28they think it may be Earhart's plane that may have come back here you heard those stories I've
00:40:32also heard that you think it could be her plane anything's possible the only way to know is to
00:40:37go out investigate it and see what we can find as we head out to sea to search the coordinates
00:40:44where divers claim to see a wreck matching the Electra I'm captivated by the possibility of finding
00:40:50the plane but also have been unnerved after all we're cruising in the shadow of two active volcanoes
00:40:56one of which is still smoking even more alarming the entire harbor is a volcanic caldera 1,500 years
00:41:03ago this bay exploded the ash cloud was so huge it darkened the skies of Europe for a year
00:41:09Ron walk me through this this looks like a missile okay this is this is a tow fish the idea is to run
00:41:17it about five to ten meters above the bottom to get ideal footage cool man looks like a pretty serious
00:41:24piece of equipment very serious piece of equipment capable of picking up nipple on a mermaid but it
00:41:31will it will do the job I can assure you I'm just hoping for the nipple on the mermaid at this point
00:41:36okay Ron here we go here we go she's gone all right keep it going
00:41:49okay she's out let's see what she sees with the sonar in the water the search begins we're scanning a
00:42:01largely unexplored area near where the divers reported seeing a wreck Lockheed only produced
00:42:07147 model 10 electras only four ever visited Papua New Guinea and three are accounted for so if Rod and
00:42:14I find an electra in this harbor it's air hearts this is kind of a waiting game now we've got this
00:42:20side scan sonar in the water we're towing it behind the boat and it's just giving us a beautiful image of
00:42:24the ocean floor and we're just kind of going back and forth eliminating each sector as we go through
00:42:29it and looking for wreckage while we go Rod has been investigating Papua New Guinea's waters for over 30
00:42:36years needless to say he calls the shots and I take beverage orders Josh do you know how to make tea
00:42:44cup of tea cup of tea coming up and I want it before Christmas I I feel like I'm with Quint from Jaws
00:42:51oh for a splash of rum don't have to take this abuse much longer
00:42:57I got the kettle on so let's see what we got here peanut butter
00:43:06big beans
00:43:09condensed milk
00:43:17okay tea coming up
00:43:22okay cup of tea coming up thanks there you go cheers mate all the best how's it looking up here
00:43:31good good all right I'm headed back to my station
00:43:34not the manliest mug
00:43:39oh Rod got something Rod come here off the starboard side
00:43:49something big right off the starboard side see it
00:43:52oh yes yes oh that's that's nice that's a big ship
00:43:55you think so yeah it's a big ship
00:43:57okay world war two um how big you think what's the scale on it's probably around about uh three
00:44:03four thousand tons uh lying upright crazy yeah okay so not a plane but we got a wreck
00:44:11not a plane okay all right keep going keep going we're hot to trot hot to trot we're on it
00:44:17we're finding wrecks
00:44:22the harbor is eight miles long and six miles wide and slowly but surely we're scanning every
00:44:26inch of it
00:44:31oh Rod I got a plane Rod I got a plane for sure come here
00:44:35look at that look at that look at that that's a plane
00:44:43I'm in Papua New Guinea using side scan sonar equipment to scan Rabaul Harbor for Amelia Earhart's missing plane
00:44:50and we just got a major hit
00:44:53oh Rod I got a plane Rod I got a plane for sure come here
00:44:57look at that look at that that's a plane that's a plane right
00:45:02now that is definitely a plane great that's amazing one wing is buried in the sand or missing
00:45:09or missing look at that that's a plane we'll put the anchor down let's do it
00:45:14that's a plane let's get wet
00:45:32based on the sonar readings there may be multiple wrecks scattered beneath the boat
00:45:45and we descend into the murky depths to investigate them
00:45:48uh coming up on almost 60 feet down here pretty murky conditions visibility is not very good
00:46:00definitely see something see something in the darkness there definitely escape
00:46:05definitely an airplane look at that unbelievable
00:46:09yeah it looks upside down but amazingly intact
00:46:24looks like the right wing is buried in the sand left wing is fairly intact
00:46:31the million dollar question is whether this could be the Electra
00:46:37as we scour the wreckage vital clues come into focus including a slot on the bottom of the plane
00:46:43this is where it would have linked into the deck of the aircraft carrier
00:46:52looks like definitely single engine
00:46:56this could be a Japanese zero
00:47:05Japanese zero yes
00:47:08from 1940 to 1945 the mitsubishi a6m zero was the infamous symbol of japan's air power
00:47:16a legendary long-range fighter responsible for the attack on pearl harbor
00:47:20the zero was light fast and deadly
00:47:24let's see if we can get any markings off the wing
00:47:28this is where the hinaburu should be
00:47:32that's the red circle the meatball they call it
00:47:34Japanese flag symbol
00:47:36goodness to race
00:47:38if this is a zero we may be able to find the hinaburu
00:47:41the red circular sun that adorned the wings of Japanese warplanes
00:47:48there it is right there
00:47:50you can just see the white paint on the edge you can see the curve of it right there it's perfect
00:47:56amazing the paint is still on there after all these years definitely not Amelia Earhart's plane but an
00:48:03amazing wreck nonetheless
00:48:07this time stick out the other heat of the sonar
00:48:08copy that right behind you
00:48:11the second sonar hit is located only a short distance from the Japanese zero
00:48:16and it's another shot at finding
00:48:18airheart's plane
00:48:22definitely wreckage down here we got something down here looks like another plane
00:48:26another plane
00:48:32this plane looks like it's in pretty bad shape
00:48:34yeah i'm excited and it's awfully hard
00:48:36rod and i scour the wreck to look for more identifying markers but this plane is badly mangled
00:48:42the cockpit on the Electra had a wide field of view but short narrow windows the cockpit area here looks like a much more open design
00:48:58let's get around to the front here and see if we can get into the cockpit area at all
00:49:08who's familiar looks like an american plane
00:49:12single engine or twin it's hard to tell
00:49:16i would have it against single engine
00:49:18tbf tbf avenger
00:49:20based on the configuration rod believes that this is a grumman tbf avenger an allied torpedo bomber that proved indispensable in defeating the japanese
00:49:30this is where the cockpit should be
00:49:34but it's just about coming out of us
00:49:36just gonna sift this sand lightly
00:49:38trying not to disturb anything
00:49:40too much in here
00:49:42see if we can see anything very dark in here
00:49:46i think we have human remains here
00:49:48we have a bone down here
00:49:50looks like there may be human remains in the cockpit
00:49:52still
00:49:54shockingly
00:49:56it appears the three person crew
00:49:58are still trapped in the cockpit
00:50:00that certainly reminds
00:50:02certainly
00:50:03how many crew would have been aboard this type of plane do you think
00:50:06if it was a tbn tbf it would be three
00:50:10i want to leave this and uh tag it for further analysis uh certainly don't want to disturb what's in here
00:50:16yep yep let's do that
00:50:20let's make our way back to the surface and uh continue from there
00:50:26the plane and the soldiers inside
00:50:28are likely either from new zealand
00:50:30or the united states
00:50:31even though this isn't the electra
00:50:33it's a major find
00:50:34since rod and his team can now begin the important work of identifying the servicemen who died here
00:50:40and having these heroes repatriate at home
00:50:42perhaps in time
00:50:43perhaps in time
00:50:44this will bring closure to someone searching for these missing pilots
00:50:49it's time for me to bid farewell to the exotic shores of papua new guinea
00:50:55after exploring the jungles of new britain and scanning the harbor of rabal
00:51:00we've eliminated two high-profile leads in the case
00:51:03with so many aircraft wrecks yet to be identified here
00:51:07it's easy to see why people believe air hearts could be among them
00:51:11but at the end of the day i don't believe there's enough physical evidence to support the theory
00:51:15furthermore i remain personally doubtful that she could have had enough fuel to limp all the way back here
00:51:22but my search for answers has just begun
00:51:26there's another breaking lead in the case
00:51:28one that's so compelling it has recently captured worldwide attention
00:51:32there's stunning new evidence to suggest that once air heart failed to locate howland island
00:51:37she headed someplace much closer than png
00:51:40just 400 miles south of her target crash landing on the uninhabited island of nicomoraro
00:51:46a renowned expert believes she may have died on this lonely island as a castaway
00:51:51and the kicker he may actually have a piece of her plane to prove it
00:51:56coming up
00:51:5813 year old boy you find human bones under your house
00:52:02it never ever came back into into my life
00:52:04until i read this thing about amelia
00:52:07was the rest of that crawl space under the house thoroughly explored
00:52:11no not at all
00:52:12really?
00:52:13never
00:52:14i got a bone down here
00:52:15there's more down here
00:52:16there's more down here
00:52:17it might be time to call the police department to come over here and take a look
00:52:20because a couple of them could be human i don't know
00:52:29i'm flying at about 35,000 feet and headed to wilmington delaware
00:52:33to interview an expert on the disappearance of amelia erhart
00:52:36on one of the last legs of her transworld flight
00:52:39erhart was supposed to travel 2500 miles from lay papa new guinea
00:52:43to tiny howland island in the middle of the south pacific
00:52:46but she never reached her destination
00:52:50and vanished without a trace
00:52:52or so we all thought
00:52:54rick gillespie is the executive director of tiger
00:53:00an organization dedicated to finding erhart's electra
00:53:03he believes that erhart missed howland island and crashed on the nearby atoll of nicomoraro
00:53:09when we started this organization
00:53:12my attitude toward
00:53:14looking for amelia erhart was
00:53:16look she probably just got lost looking for a tiny island in a big ocean
00:53:20ran out of gas
00:53:21crashed at sea
00:53:22the technology doesn't exist to find such a small target in such a big ocean
00:53:26and it wasn't until two of our members who were retired military aerial navigators
00:53:32came to us and said
00:53:33the things that erhart is known to have said on the radio
00:53:37make perfect sense to a navigator
00:53:39she was doing exactly what she should have done
00:53:41and that should have brought her to one of two islands that she had enough fuel to get to
00:53:47and nobody ever looked there
00:53:49erhart's final transmissions indicate that her and noonan believed they were in the right spot
00:53:54but couldn't see howland
00:53:56we are on the line 157-237
00:53:59we will repeat this message
00:54:01we are running on line north and south
00:54:03if in fact erhart followed that line
00:54:06it would have likely passed near the phoenix group
00:54:08leading straight to gardner island
00:54:10known today as nicomoraro
00:54:12okay
00:54:13if all those radio signals people thought were genuine
00:54:16were real
00:54:18then the airplane would have to be on land
00:54:20but we've looked on the land
00:54:21and there's no airplane on the land
00:54:23therefore the radio signals must be somehow bogus
00:54:26let's go look in the ocean for a floating airplane
00:54:29and that's what they did
00:54:30and they didn't find one
00:54:31they didn't find anything
00:54:32how many times have you been out to nicomoraro
00:54:34i've been in nicomoraro ten times
00:54:36ten times
00:54:37and not an easy island to reach
00:54:39no it's one of the most remote places on earth
00:54:42and what's your level of confidence that that's where she set that place
00:54:45hundred percent
00:54:46hundred percent
00:54:47hundred percent
00:54:48hundred percent
00:54:49no doubt in your mind
00:54:50we just established last week
00:54:55that a piece of aluminum that we found on that island in 1991
00:55:00matches in every respect a unique part of erhart's airplane
00:55:04when erhart was in miami
00:55:11she had a special custom-made window on the right side of the airplane replaced
00:55:17with a plain aluminum patch
00:55:19it has a unique rivet pattern unique proportions dictated by the size of the hole it was covering
00:55:24and the structure of the airplane
00:55:25right
00:55:26so a piece of emilia erhart's airplane ended up on that island
00:55:30critics will say
00:55:31yeah well it could have floated up there
00:55:33because we found it washed up
00:55:35and if that was the only thing we'd ever found on nicomoraro
00:55:39you could say
00:55:40yeah well maybe
00:55:41but it's not the only thing we've ever found
00:55:45September 1940
00:55:46there was a man named gerald gallagher
00:55:49he went down there
00:55:50and found a partial skeleton
00:55:52total of thirteen bones
00:55:56and it looked like this person had been lying under a tree
00:56:00and it died there
00:56:03and he looked at this
00:56:04and he said
00:56:05this might be emilia erhart
00:56:09Gallagher was a colonial soldier
00:56:11who landed on nicomoraro
00:56:12as part of a british settlement
00:56:14he packed the skeleton he discovered into a box
00:56:17and took it back to fiji for analysis
00:56:19the bones were sent to the school of medicine
00:56:21and given only a cursory examination
00:56:23in which the doctor concluded
00:56:25they were from a male
00:56:26before anyone could test
00:56:28to see if they belonged to erhart's navigator
00:56:30the bones disappeared somewhere in the island's archives
00:56:33but we have the notes the doctor took
00:56:38of the measurements of those bones
00:56:40and we've given those measurements
00:56:43to two independent forensic anthropologists
00:56:46plugs it into the databases available now
00:56:48what comes out of the computer is
00:56:50white female of northern european descent
00:56:52who stood five foot seven five foot eight
00:56:55well there's nobody else like that
00:56:57missing out there
00:56:58that's that's a description of Amelia Earhart
00:57:01it's an amazing lead
00:57:03but the question remains
00:57:04what became of the bones?
00:57:08Fiji's main newspaper is now reporting
00:57:10a new lead in the case
00:57:12if the bones can be found
00:57:14it may finally close
00:57:15the greatest missing persons case in history
00:57:18time for me to head back to the skies
00:57:20get to Fiji
00:57:21and join the search
00:57:27since the dawn of aviation
00:57:28every pilot and passenger has seen this view
00:57:31the endless cloudscape that swaddles planet earth
00:57:35it was just over a century ago
00:57:37on a windy stretch of beach in North Carolina
00:57:39that the Wright brothers launched the first powered aircraft
00:57:42the fragile looking Wright Flyer 1
00:57:44the plane may have only flown for 12 seconds
00:57:47but humanity's terrestrial shackles were finally broken
00:57:50the world would never be the same
00:57:53it's hard to know to what extent
00:57:55early aviation pioneers like Earhart
00:57:57envisioned what would follow
00:57:58but she probably never imagined Richard Branson
00:58:01seat-back TVs
00:58:02or double-decker jumbo jets
00:58:04and yet, despite this technological golden age of aviation
00:58:09some things haven't changed
00:58:11we still lose planes
00:58:13in fact, more than 80 aircraft
00:58:15have completely vanished since the end of World War 2
00:58:19many aspects of Earhart's disappearance
00:58:21seem eerily relevant with the recent loss of Malaysia Flight 370
00:58:25it serves to remind us that our dominion over the skies
00:58:28is not absolute
00:58:29and that an awe-inspiring 90% of the world's oceans
00:58:33remain unexplored
00:58:35thanks to brave aviation pioneers like Earhart
00:58:37my modern jumbo jet
00:58:39will make the 5,000-mile trip across the Pacific
00:58:42in a matter of hours
00:58:46I touch down in the Fijian capital of Suva
00:58:50a bustling and cosmopolitan town
00:58:52with a laid-back island charm
00:58:54this is the last place the missing remains
00:58:56from Nicomararo were taken
00:58:58exploring a new culture is always an eye-opening experience
00:59:04and Suva is no exception
00:59:06like seeing these authentic Fijian recliners
00:59:09I like your chairs
00:59:11do you mind?
00:59:12hang on?
00:59:13this is very nice
00:59:14oh yeah
00:59:17you guys got it all figured out here
00:59:19are you guys working right now?
00:59:20yeah
00:59:21yeah
00:59:22yeah you are?
00:59:23you're not allowed to drink beer when you're working
00:59:27are you allowed to sit in a wheelbarrow?
00:59:29I'm in town to meet with Nimani Della Batiki
00:59:37the editor-in-chief of the Fiji Sun
00:59:39his paper recently published a new report on the missing bones
00:59:43that came to Fiji from Nicomararo
00:59:45where Earhart may have perished
00:59:47according to the article
00:59:48a doctor Kenneth Gilchrist
00:59:50the former head of the Fiji medical school
00:59:52may have been in possession of the bones
00:59:54the doctor has passed away
00:59:56but three Fijian employees were named as beneficiaries in his will
01:00:00all three men have also died
01:00:02and investigators believe that the box of bones
01:00:04may have been inherited by one of their family members
01:00:07there was three Fijians
01:00:10who were close to the doctor
01:00:13and apparently they had knowledge of the box
01:00:16the mystery is which one got the box?
01:00:20two of the men's families have already been interviewed
01:00:23and neither have the bones
01:00:25the third man's son has yet to be found
01:00:27if I can find him and the box
01:00:29DNA testing could prove
01:00:31whether the bones are the remains of Earhart
01:00:33or her navigator
01:00:35we heard that one of the three people
01:00:38live in Navala
01:00:40the remote village
01:00:41Navala
01:00:42Navala village
01:00:43on the western side of Fiji
01:00:44with no time to lose
01:00:53I'm heading to the village to investigate
01:00:55since I'll be showing up uninvited
01:00:57it's important that I don't go empty-handed
01:00:59so I'm heading to the market to pick up a gift
01:01:01we got spices
01:01:07we got beans
01:01:09we got whatever that is
01:01:11since I'm not seeing any Starbucks cards
01:01:13or vanilla scented candles
01:01:15I decide to go with a Fijian classic
01:01:17kava
01:01:19you have lots of kava
01:01:20I need to buy some
01:01:21the roots of the kava plant are mashed
01:01:23and turned into an intoxicating sedative
01:01:25that's wildly popular in this part of the world
01:01:27how much is it?
01:01:2935 a kilo
01:01:3135 a kilo?
01:01:33sounds like a fair price
01:01:34I don't know how much kava is supposed to cost
01:01:36so I trust you
01:01:37ok I'll take a kilo
01:01:39do you drink kava?
01:01:41does he drink kava?
01:01:43no
01:01:44no he doesn't like it?
01:01:45it's an acquired taste
01:01:47look at that
01:01:48that looks amazing
01:01:50the quidditch for this thing
01:01:52bye
01:01:53with my offering in hand
01:01:55I'm starting my journey to the village
01:01:57I'm hopeful to find the man
01:01:59who may be in possession of the missing bones
01:02:02here in Fiji's rugged backcountry
01:02:04may be the answers to one of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries
01:02:10coming up
01:02:11this is where it happened
01:02:12right there
01:02:13there has gotta be
01:02:14a better way to make a living
01:02:16when you found the box
01:02:17yes
01:02:18did they go through the underside of this house
01:02:20with a fine tooth comb?
01:02:22no
01:02:23this looks like a bone
01:02:24it might be time to call the police department
01:02:26to come over here
01:02:27and take a look
01:02:28any cameras?
01:02:29any cameras?
01:02:37i'm on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji
01:02:39searching for a man
01:02:40who may be in possession of bones
01:02:42that were brought here
01:02:43from a remote pacific island in 1945
01:02:45and which could be the remains of Amelia Earhart
01:02:48after picking up a traditional offering of kava plant
01:02:51I'm heading off the grid to search a remote village
01:02:54where the man was last known to live
01:02:59beyond the capital
01:03:00Fiji reveals her true colors
01:03:02these islands are an undeveloped wonderland
01:03:05brimming with stunning natural beauty
01:03:08while the small village of Nivala
01:03:10is just 55 miles northeast of Suva
01:03:12the road system isn't exactly state-of-the-art
01:03:15Fiji's rustic charm may be pleasing to the eye
01:03:18but it does come with some minor drawbacks
01:03:26no rush
01:03:28okay, that may be the end of this road
01:03:41hopefully the village is not too far from here
01:03:45here we go
01:03:47in this part of the world
01:03:49reaching a remote village involves more than just a bumpy ride down a dirt road
01:03:53in this case
01:03:54in this case
01:03:55I'll have to channel my inner huck fin
01:03:56to reach my destination
01:04:01are you going to the village?
01:04:03to the village?
01:04:04to the village?
01:04:05can I have a ride?
01:04:07okay
01:04:09I think I'm about to sink your boat
01:04:17alright, we're floating
01:04:18a few generations ago
01:04:21an outsider like myself
01:04:22arriving uninvited
01:04:23at some Fijian villages
01:04:25could have become the main course
01:04:26in a cannibalistic feast
01:04:28while I'm not afraid of winding up on the menu these days
01:04:31I am worried that it's going to take me a month to paddle there
01:04:33on what the locals call a Billy Billy raft
01:04:39this is the 2014 model
01:04:40of the Billy Billy raft
01:04:42it comes with a full bamboo
01:04:44sunroof, obviously
01:04:46natural air conditioning
01:04:50manual transmission
01:04:54here?
01:04:55village?
01:04:56yeah
01:04:58okay
01:04:59I don't really know where the emergency brake is on this thing
01:05:01so I'm just going to smash it into the rocks here
01:05:07okay my friend
01:05:09bye
01:05:16it wasn't exactly an express trip
01:05:18but the journey comes with an instant reward
01:05:20the traditional village is beautiful beyond words
01:05:23and the brilliant smiles of its youngest residents
01:05:25make the journey well worth the effort
01:05:27this village is reportedly home to a man who may have inherited the possible remains of Amelia Earhart
01:05:31but an outsider doesn't just waltz in and start snooping around
01:05:48first, I'll need to get approval from the village chief
01:05:51I'm immediately led to the chief's hut
01:05:55his word is law here
01:05:57with the future of my investigation riding on winning him over
01:06:00I'm hoping my kilo of kava helps grease the wheels
01:06:03the men take away the root, mash it, and turn it into a drink
01:06:04the men take away the root, mash it, and turn it into a drink
01:06:18though it's consumed by millions of people throughout the pacific
01:06:35to outsiders, kava is an acquired taste
01:06:39yes, it's bitter, gritty, and resembles muddy water
01:06:43but it also comes with a warm wave of euphoria
01:06:46thanks to his properties as a natural sedative
01:06:49can I pass to you?
01:06:50no, you have to finish it
01:06:52I have to finish it?
01:06:53yeah
01:06:54kava is more than a drink
01:06:55it's ceremonial
01:06:56not finishing every last drop is considered an insult
01:07:00so, bottoms up
01:07:03my love
01:07:07pinaka
01:07:10and now, it all comes down to the chief
01:07:12his is the final approval
01:07:16I'm in a small Fijian village looking for answers to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart
01:07:33a recent news story reported that a man in this village may have a box containing her bones
01:07:38if I can find these remains, it may solve one of the greatest puzzles in modern human history
01:07:44but first, I need to win over the chief, who is the absolute authority here
01:07:49without his permission, I won't be able to stay in the village and continue my investigation
01:07:54after downing a few cups of ceremonial kava, the chief is ready to make his decision
01:07:59hopefully, he thinks I'm a good drinking buddy
01:08:02everything is accepted
01:08:04everything is accepted
01:08:06you are no longer a visitor
01:08:08you are part of the village family
01:08:11oh, that's very nice to hear
01:08:13thank you very much, Vinaka
01:08:14thank you very much for allowing me to come here
01:08:17and for accepting the kava
01:08:19and for sharing the drink with me
01:08:21I appreciate it, thank you
01:08:23Vinaka
01:08:25let's get some pizzas up in here, huh?
01:08:27if I give you one inch
01:08:31yeah
01:08:32don't take one mile
01:08:33okay, sounds good
01:08:37oh, one more road from California
01:08:43okay?
01:08:44yes
01:08:45the chief thinks I need one for the road
01:08:47after obliging, I head out into the village to begin my hut-to-hut search
01:08:51for the man who might have the mysterious box
01:08:54that experts believe could contain the bones of Amelia Earhart
01:09:00Bula
01:09:01how are you?
01:09:02I'm good, thank you
01:09:03and you?
01:09:04I'm good
01:09:09Bula
01:09:10hello
01:09:11hello
01:09:12listen, I'm trying to find these men
01:09:14do you know these men?
01:09:15do you know these names?
01:09:16do any of them live here?
01:09:17no
01:09:18no
01:09:19strike one
01:09:20okay, next
01:09:21nah
01:09:22no?
01:09:23none of them live here?
01:09:24no
01:09:25Benaka
01:09:26no
01:09:27strike two
01:09:28just as I'm about to give up
01:09:29I meet with one last man in the village
01:09:31Bula
01:09:32Bula
01:09:33how are you?
01:09:34I'm good, I'm good
01:09:35I'm looking for these three men
01:09:36do any of these names look familiar to you?
01:09:39uh-huh
01:09:40Calabiti
01:09:42he was in the village
01:09:44they passed away
01:09:45he passed away?
01:09:46passed away
01:09:47does he have any family here still?
01:09:48uh
01:09:49no, not what I know
01:09:51and we're looking for these men because they may have been in possession of a box
01:09:58with human bones
01:10:00when this man died, did he have any possessions here in the village?
01:10:03a box maybe?
01:10:04Calabiti doesn't have any belongings when he passed away
01:10:07right
01:10:08there wasn't any box
01:10:09okay
01:10:10I think there's another man you should see
01:10:12he's there in Suva
01:10:14in Suva?
01:10:15in Suva
01:10:16his name is John Gray
01:10:17John Gray
01:10:18John Gray, that's a familiar name to me
01:10:19John Gray is who?
01:10:20he was one who found some bones
01:10:23in the box
01:10:24yes, many years ago he found bones, right?
01:10:26yeah
01:10:27the name John Gray has long been linked to the Earhart mystery
01:10:31as a boy in 1968
01:10:33he was exploring a crawl space underneath his home in Fiji
01:10:36when he made a startling discovery
01:10:38he found a box of bones that included a human skull
01:10:42furthermore, the house had previously belonged to an employee from the Fiji School of Medicine
01:10:47some believe that these bones could be the very same ones that went missing from Nicomararo
01:10:52but in a maddening twist, these bones have also been lost
01:10:56my trip to the village has confirmed that the last man mentioned in the article didn't have the bones
01:11:07but a new lead is drawing me back to Suva
01:11:10could John Gray provide any new insight about the bones he found nearly 50 years ago?
01:11:15perhaps he holds the key to solving this epic mystery
01:11:20so you were about how old when this happened?
01:11:2213
01:11:2313 year old boy, you find human bones under your house
01:11:27how did you come to be digging under your house?
01:11:29me and my cousins decided that we needed to go and check the place out
01:11:35and I crawled under this house and looked
01:11:38and lo and behold, there was this box under there
01:11:42as we took off part of the covering
01:11:44we saw this roundish, whitish, brownish thing
01:11:48and then having pulled it out and seeing what was the skull
01:11:54it freaked me out
01:11:56yeah
01:11:57and it's buried under your house
01:11:59absolutely
01:12:00I mean this is like poltergeist
01:12:02this is like a horror movie
01:12:03yeah
01:12:04and then what became of the box and the bones?
01:12:06it was all given to the Fiji Museum
01:12:09I just really didn't want to have anything to do with that skull again
01:12:13right
01:12:14so um
01:12:15it never ever came back into my life
01:12:17until I read this thing about Amelia Earhart
01:12:21something clicked in my mind to say
01:12:23John that skull that you had
01:12:25is perhaps done
01:12:27do you think there's a chance that it's still in the museum?
01:12:31well
01:12:32I
01:12:33hope
01:12:34so
01:12:35was the rest of that crawl space under the house thoroughly explored?
01:12:38no not at all
01:12:39really?
01:12:40never
01:12:41even if I did want to
01:12:42I couldn't
01:12:43because someone else owned it
01:12:44now though it is a possibility?
01:12:46the current owner is amenable to us going in there
01:12:49and excavating if we need to
01:12:51and you do you think it's possible there could be other material remains under the house?
01:12:54absolutely
01:12:55you do?
01:12:56absolutely
01:12:57she needs closure
01:12:59hmm
01:13:00Amelia needs closure
01:13:06John made arrangements for us to search the crawl space tonight
01:13:09in the meantime I want to further investigate his claim that the bones he found could still be in the archives at the Fiji Museum
01:13:17the museum boasts an impressive collection that spans nearly 4,000 years
01:13:22there are authentic Fijian rafts
01:13:24and even the rudder from the infamously mutineered HMS bounty
01:13:28but much of the collection is devoted to Fiji's violent cannibal past
01:13:32these islands were once a hotbed of human consumption
01:13:35one missionary was even eaten right down to the soles of his shoes
01:13:39the one part the natives found too tough to eat
01:13:42in a museum brimming with human remains
01:13:45I'm not feeling very optimistic about finding a single box of bones handed over by a teenage boy in the 1960s
01:13:51but I've come this far and plan to leave no stone or bone unturned
01:14:01I'm fortunate to be granted access to the museum's archives
01:14:04however what little hope I have shrinks as I realize that this place is essentially that room at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark
01:14:10this might take a while
01:14:18I comb through row after row of jumbled disintegrating files
01:14:28eventually I do manage to turn up some intriguing reports about Earhart
01:14:32but no potential remains
01:14:38as I continue to comb through the museum's collection
01:14:40I find countless weapons and relics
01:14:42but they're not what I'm looking for
01:14:48ooh! box! check this out
01:14:50that kind of fits the description
01:14:52as he said it's got clasps on the front
01:14:56I'm at the Fiji Museum looking for a lost box of bones that some think can be traced to Amelia Earhart
01:15:16ooh! box!
01:15:17after scouring the archives I've come upon a box that matches the description
01:15:27nothing
01:15:29can't win them all
01:15:30my search through the museum's archives doesn't turn up the remains
01:15:36it costs me the day but I haven't lost all hope
01:15:39I'm traveling to the childhood home where John Gray found a box of bones over 40 years ago
01:15:45the police never searched the crawl space after John made his discovery
01:15:49so there could still be more evidence buried in the dirt
01:15:51is it? this is it
01:15:54this is your childhood home
01:15:56this is the home
01:15:57does it look the same?
01:15:58a little overgrown with shrubs and things like that
01:16:01but the house looks exactly the same
01:16:04alright, well here we go
01:16:06so, this is where it happened
01:16:08this is the entry
01:16:09right there
01:16:13ok, so a 13 year old boy
01:16:14you decide you're going to go into that crawl space
01:16:17yep, I got into that, crawled out of the house
01:16:21and there it was
01:16:22this box
01:16:23do you think anybody has been under here since 1968?
01:16:26by the looks of things, no
01:16:28the box of bones that John found in 1968
01:16:31was strikingly similar to the one that went missing decades before
01:16:35if there are any more remains buried under this house
01:16:39they very well could be Earhart's
01:16:40I'm not thrilled about poking around under an old house
01:16:45looking for Earhart's bones in the dark
01:16:47but I've come this far
01:16:48and there's no way I'm turning back now
01:16:51where under here did you find the box?
01:16:54right in there
01:16:56where that timber stump is
01:16:58I see it, yeah, about halfway back
01:17:00that's great
01:17:01and it was just sitting there or it was buried?
01:17:03it was sitting there
01:17:04so if you get there that's where the box was
01:17:07well that seems like that's our spot to start digging around
01:17:11here we go
01:17:13so please, just caution as you go through
01:17:16uh...
01:17:17ok
01:17:19definitely some spiders, god
01:17:23so John, you're talking about that post there?
01:17:25correct, right in the middle of the house
01:17:27if I find any money under here I keep it, right?
01:17:33doesn't look like anyone's really been down here
01:17:36in the past 40 years
01:17:37I found a button
01:17:39looks like a button off a piece of clothing
01:17:41this is the first thing I've really found down here
01:17:43that looks from the human world
01:17:45lots of broken bits of pottery
01:17:49some glass
01:17:52looks like a child's marble
01:17:55yeah, we used to play with those things in the younger days
01:17:57you lost your marbles, John
01:17:59ok, John, I'm pushing over toward the area where you found the box
01:18:06oh boy
01:18:08there has gotta be
01:18:10a better way to make a living
01:18:12is it this beam right here, this small one?
01:18:15yep, you're right there
01:18:16that's it?
01:18:18ok, so this is where the box was
01:18:19so this was where the box was
01:18:30a lot of coral down here
01:18:32they must have, when they were building the house
01:18:35used this as part of the landfill
01:18:40John?
01:18:41yep?
01:18:42just making sure you didn't go home
01:18:44when you found the box
01:18:46yes
01:18:47did they go through the
01:18:48underside of this house
01:18:49with a fine tooth comb?
01:18:50nope
01:18:52I just wanted to get rid of the box
01:18:54but the police didn't come down here
01:18:55nope
01:18:57you would think after they found this box
01:18:58filled with bones
01:18:59they would have come down here
01:19:00and done a more thorough search
01:19:01but
01:19:02I don't see anything around there
01:19:03other than a lot of
01:19:05dirt and some of this coral
01:19:10hold on, let me see what's down here
01:19:11this is like
01:19:15this does not look like coral to me
01:19:18this looks a lot like bone
01:19:30hold on, let me see what's down here
01:19:31I'm in Fiji searching underneath a home
01:19:33for bones that some believe
01:19:35may be the remains of Amelia Earhart
01:19:37Earhart. After a bit of digging, I may have found something.
01:19:41This does not look like coral to me.
01:19:47This looks a lot like bone.
01:19:51I got a bone down here. For sure. A big piece of bone. I don't know if it's human or not, but
01:19:58this is definitely bone. Wow. That is a bone. I mean, that looks like a human bone to me.
01:20:04Another one. Part of a vertebrae.
01:20:08My goodness. More.
01:20:11In a million years, I didn't think I was going to actually find bones under this house, but
01:20:15I'm looking at a handful of them right here, and I'm just barely scratching the surface.
01:20:19Amazing.
01:20:21There's more down here. There's more down here.
01:20:25I mean, there's a skeleton down here. There's bits of bone all over the place down here.
01:20:31More bones. I mean, what is that from?
01:20:34It's everywhere I look. I mean, I'm putting the skeleton together down here.
01:20:38It might be time to call the police department to come over here and take a look, because
01:20:41a couple of them could be human. I don't know.
01:20:49All right, I'm coming out.
01:20:50Well, there's more under the house, John. Vertebrae. This, obviously, this could be a chicken bone,
01:21:06something much smaller. This could be a cow bone. But this, I mean, things like this, I don't
01:21:10know. That could be human.
01:21:13We assume that what was in the box was all that it was. And for a 13-year-old kid, you never want to go back in to find out if there's anything else.
01:21:23The bones that I found under the house transformed our television production into a criminal investigation.
01:21:44After lengthy questioning at the police station, the Fiji CSI unit has bagged the evidence for review,
01:21:51and I've got no choice but to head back to my hotel for a much-needed shower.
01:21:55The next morning, I return to the scene of the crime, only to find more investigators crawling under
01:22:03the house. Hazmat suits. Why didn't I think of that?
01:22:10The police tape says it all. The case is now out of my hands, and I'm told that analysis and DNA testing
01:22:17could take months. However, the lab has already confirmed that at least one of the bones is human.
01:22:25A revelation that turns out to be front-page news.
01:22:35As I make my way back to the airport to bring my expedition to a close, I have a lot to reflect on.
01:22:41The shocking discovery of human remains beneath John Gray's house is a genuinely newsworthy lead
01:22:46in the search for the Queen of the Skies. In addition, the potential identification of the
01:22:52aluminum panel from the island of Nicomararo makes it tempting to conclude that Earhart did indeed
01:22:58crash on or around the remote island. But much of the evidence, though hugely compelling,
01:23:03is still circumstantial. Until her bones or the full wreckage of the Electra is identified,
01:23:09no one can say for certain. Back in Papua New Guinea, the overgrown World War II wreckage that we found
01:23:16in the jungle and the eerie wrecks beneath the waves are, in a sense, every bit as important
01:23:21as Earhart's plane. After all, pilots went missing, lives were lost. My hope is that the bones from the
01:23:28sunken Allied plane can be identified and repatriated home for the burial they deserve.
01:23:36At the heart of Earhart's world flight was a commitment to opening new frontiers and to unite
01:23:41the many cultures of the world. In that regard, her mission has been a success.
01:23:49She helped herald in the modern age of aviation, which now serves to connect every nation on Earth.
01:23:56In the end, I'm most drawn to the unanswered question, why do we continue the search? To me,
01:24:03the magnificent thing about Amelia is that in the eyes of the world, she never died. Her fear never
01:24:09witnessed, her failure never recorded. Earhart's legacy of inspiration is amplified because her
01:24:16adventure is perpetual, unbroken by gravity. We simply think of her as missing, and perhaps
01:24:23that's where she belongs. Somewhere over that limitless blue horizon.
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