More than 80 years after the famed pilot disappeared with her navigator somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, an exhaustive study has pieced together what could be the details of Amelia Earhart’s harrowing last days.

In the week after her plane vanished on July 2, 1937, there were 120 reports from around the world claiming to have picked up radio signals and distress calls from Earhart – 57 of which were determined to be credible.

An effort led by Richard Gillespie, executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, analyzed these final transmissions, painting a haunting image of their increasingly desperate situation over the course of seven days.

Challenging one of the widely held theories, which claims her Lockheed Electra crashed and sank in the ocean, the distress calls suggest Earhart and a severely injured Fred Noonan were stranded on a reef, at the mercy of the tides.

Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were attempting to circumnavigate the globe by plane when they vanished on July 2, 1937. Their remains have never been positively identified, but one research group is convinced that they crash landed on a remote Pacific island

Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were attempting to circumnavigate the globe by plane when they vanished on July 2, 1937. Their remains have never been positively identified, but one research group is convinced that they crash landed on a remote Pacific island
Researchers analysed 120 reported distress signals from Earhart after she vanished, and found 57 to be credible. They say the signals all point to Gardner Island as the source, because the clarity of the messages received increases the closer to the island the listeners were

Researchers analysed 120 reported distress signals from Earhart after she vanished, and found 57 to be credible. They say the signals all point to Gardner Island as the source, because the clarity of the messages received increases the closer to the island the listeners were
Seven people who received credible distress calls managed to take directional bearings, and five of those bearings cross in the vicinity of Gardner Island, the study showed

Seven people who received credible distress calls managed to take directional bearings, and five of those bearings cross in the vicinity of Gardner Island, the study showed

The comprehensive new study from TIGHAR’s Earhart Project picks apart each distress call received in the week after the pilot’s disappearance, revealing an hour-by-hour chronology of the events that transpired.

These heartbreaking messages were picked up around the world by naval stations actively participating in the search, and casual listeners in their homes.

On Friday July 2, hours after her disappearance became known, a station leading the search heard a voice thought to be hears. And, when asked to confirm with a series of dashes, three stations heard the response, and one caught the word ‘Earhart.’

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