Lost from the Skies

Ok. I have a secret fascination with aviation, including — maybe especially — aviation disappearances.

Today Steven Fossett was reported missing. Of course you hope he’s ok, but deep down, when planes go missing, you know there’s little hope. Already reports of wreckage are flooding news outlets. What went wrong? What kind of a person was he? You have to assume every pilot is a free spirit, an adventurer, the type who's so full of life. It’s sad — tragic, really.

It piques my interest in other morbid (but famous) disappearances, like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (who may or may not have slept with my great-grandmother on occasion…), whose mysterious disappearance in 1944 intrigued generations until his crashed plane was discovered 60 years later. But there's still so much left unknown.

Of course, you can’t think about aviation mysteries without thinking of Amelia Earhart. Is her plane on the bottom of the ocean? Was she captured and killed by the Japanese? Or did she and Noonan land safely, lost on some uninhabited island, and survive for a while afterwards? I once read a novel that provided a fiery illustration of the last scenario. More and more, some parts of it seem to be true.

I say this because of the fascinating — albeit completely circumstantial — discoveries by TIGHAR, a non-profit aviation archaeological organization, in Nikumaroro, the island some believe Amelia inhabited after her crash. I had heard of their discoveries before, and — in light of today’s tragic news — was eager for them to launch another exploration. (Who doesn’t want to know the fate of Amelia Earhart?) I took a glance at their website and was pleasantly surprised.

They just returned from a second exhibition to Nikumaroro, and the mystery continues to unfold.


(Also — TIGHAR offers interesting insight into l’Oiseau Blanc, the plane lost in France’s attempt to complete a non-stop transatlantic flight between New York City and Paris... the plane that altered aviation history!)