November 14, 20232 yr Amelia Earhart's mysterious disappearance, during her epic voyage across the Pacific, abounds with theories and conjectures, that are better left to the realm of aviation analysts and theorists...What has always fascinated me in this story is how incredibly small was this Howland Island. It is the elusive tiny tract of land (see image below) in the vast Pacific Ocean to which she (with her Navigator Noonan) was headed, on July 2, 1937, for an interim stop (for refueling). They were enroute between Lae, New Guinea, (see my shot #1) and Howland Island, on one of their final legs of the flight. I just wished to find out for myself, in the MSFS SIM, how this mystical bit of land looks like...and if I could hover over it just for a bit, to absorb the vibes...albeit virtually...of this everlasting (and unsolved) mystery. The (cucumber-shaped) coral island is less than a mile and half in length and about half a mile in width (with total area just 1 square mile). Howland Island is a sanctuary for millions of seabirds, shorebirds, and various marine life who all call the island home, but otherwise uninhabited. Airstrips that were constructed to accommodate Amelia's planned stopover were subsequently damaged, not maintained and have gradually disappeared (I didn't see any either). Located about 2,000 miles southwest of Honolulu, the only way to get to the island is via an eight-day sail (certainly not the way I've got there, please see below for my Modus Operandi...) ... So, not finding Howland Island, in the Search Box of the MSFS FlightPlan, I'd to put all my (available) technological resources to task...🙂...First, I searched and created a marker on the Google Earth display of Howland Island, found its co-ordinates (0.8062953, -176.6174354), and pasted it into the (MSFS) Search Box to create a custom waypoint (USR02), see my (PFD) Status Bar and MFD MAP, below. Then, I used MSFS's (handy) Slew function (see shot #3) to reposition myself near the Howland Island (with the help of the MSFS VFR MAP). The Island I saw in my virtual world (see my shot #5) looks eerily similar to that of the Google Earth. And as evident in my last 2 images, all I could see there, as far as I could see, was nothing but (thousands of miles of) the endless blue waters of the Pacific, below my aircraft, and only the bright Sun, for company, shining in the sky, above me.... helplessness was palpable shrouded in the mystics of this tiniest place on Earth...even in my virtual world...🙂... Thanks for viewing. Edited November 15, 20232 yr by P_7878
November 15, 20232 yr Fine set with a nice small Island.. cheers 😉 08.2024 new PC is online : ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI Mainboard, AMD Ryzen™ 9 7950X3D Prozessor, G.Skill DIMM 64 GB DDR5-6000 (2x 32 GB) Dual-Kit, MSI GeForce RTX 4090 VENTUS 3X E 24G OC Grafikkarte, 2x WD Black SN850X NVMe SSD 4 TB - Drive C+D, WD Gold Enterprise Class 12 TB for storage HDD, Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1000W PC - Power supply, Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO CPU Aircooler with 7 Heatpipes, Design Meshify 2 White TG Clear Tint Tower-Case, 3x 4K monitors 2x32 Samsung 1x27 LG 3840x2160, Windows11 Prof. 23H2 - now Windows11 Prof. 25H2 Flightsimulator Hardware: Honeycomb Throttle Bravo, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, Logitech Flight Joke System, XBox Controller, some Thrustmaster stuff, Winwing CDU Panels.
November 15, 20232 yr They made it hard for themselves - finding that tiny island in the vast Pacific Ocean in 1937 was no mean feat. David Porrett
November 17, 20232 yr Author On 11/14/2023 at 6:36 PM, John F said: Never realized the island was so small. Thanks for seeking it out for us. On 11/14/2023 at 6:46 PM, Alaska738 said: Nice pics! 😉 On 11/15/2023 at 12:39 AM, pmplayer said: Fine set with a nice small Island.. cheers 😉 On 11/15/2023 at 4:32 AM, DavidP said: They made it hard for themselves - finding that tiny island in the vast Pacific Ocean in 1937 was no mean feat. John, Will, pmplayer, and David: Greatly appreciated your comments and interest in this (fascinating) topic. Yes, the "small-ness" and "tiny-ness" of Howland Island is one of the most commonly striking features of that flight leg. Of course, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (Itasca) was standing by for guidance, adjacent to the beaches of Howland Island above, but no effective 2-way communication could be established for a landing on the Island. Here is the final few (factual) sequences of events, documented: At 6:14 a.m. on July 2, the plane reported its position as 200 miles away from Howland. Earhart contacted the Itasca again at 7:42 a.m. indicating “We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet.” [Note: With an average speed of about 130 mph of the Lockheed Electra, an hour-and-half later, this positioning sounds right.] The ship tried to reply, but the plane seemed not to hear. Just before 8:00 a.m. the plane radioed that they were circling and requested bearings. Earhart and Noonan also reported they had received the Cutter’s signals but were unable to obtain a minimum for a bearing. At 8:43 a.m. the plane next reported being on line 157-337 (i.e., running north and south) with no reference point given. It was the last Itasca heard from Earhart and Noonan. Radio Signals eventually went silent, and the Electra disappeared (somewhere) in the vicinity of the Island, never to be seen. Here is an interesting fact, I came across today...the Howland Island, though so small, besides being a habitat for seabirds, has been also noted as a (surely much needed) stopover, in the Pacific, for the long-haul migratory birds. Apparently, nature has provided these birds with (amazing) in-built sensors and ADFs...🙂... Anyway, after 85 years now, the mystery of this flight still remains un-resolved... Cheers...! Edited November 17, 20232 yr by P_7878
November 19, 20232 yr Great story and fine shots, P_7878! Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwinds My specs: AMD Radeon RX6700XT, AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 32GB RAM, 34" monitor, screen resolution: 2560x1080
January 28, 20242 yr There are people still looking for it and this article is the latest "find"? https://www.wsj.com/science/amelia-earhart-lost-plane-found-843e9e9c _________________________________________________________________________ Bob "roadwarrior" Werab Config: ASUS Prime Motherboard, RYZEN 5, 32 GB Ram, Radeon RX5700 XT, 2 TB SSD
January 28, 20242 yr I must have missed this first time round. Fascinating stuff as ever, P, and thanks for the inspiration. I'll add this to my list of places to explore. Ryzen 9 7900X, Corsair H150 AIO cooler, 64 Gb DDR5, Asus X670E Hero m/b, 3090ti, 13Tb NVMe, 8Tb SSD, 16Tb HD, 55" Philips 4k HDR monitor, EVGA 1600w ps, all in Corsair 7000D airflow case. Sims in use - 2020, 2024, XP-12 and -11, FSX/SE, P3Dv4.5 and v5.4. DCS and AFS2 installed but rarely used
January 28, 20242 yr Author 18 hours ago, KSATRoadWarrior said: There are people still looking for it and this article is the latest "find"? https://www.wsj.com/science/amelia-earhart-lost-plane-found-843e9e9c A very interesting and modern article, Bob...just from a couple days ago...looks like... I liked the comparison...🙂...: “For her to go missing was just unthinkable,” Romeo said. “Imagine Taylor Swift just disappearing today.” 9 hours ago, andy1252 said: I must have missed this first time round. Fascinating stuff as ever, P, and thanks for the inspiration. I'll add this to my list of places to explore. Thanks for the note, Andy. Yes, aviation is replete with fascinating mysteries, and here is a perpetually endearing one...🙂...
January 30, 20242 yr The Great Mystery!!! Very interesting post and shots 100%75%50%d8a34be0e82d98b5a45ff4336cd0dddc Patrick
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