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Purdue leads Kiribati hunt for Earhart plane’s Taraia Object

By Drooid · Oct 18, 2026, 10:26 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Steve Schultz Leads Search

Purdue’s Steve Schultz leads a Kiribati expedition to locate Amelia Earhart’s missing plane.
Archaeological Legacy Institute director Rick Pettigrew and three Kiribati officials supervise the search.
The team investigates the “Taraia Object,” a lagoon anomaly recorded in 1938 and 2020.
Researchers will use a hydraulic dredge, magnetometer and sonar to examine the object 30 feet underwater near Nikumaroro.
Despite stormy weather pausing work, the crew says the search remains on schedule.

Summary

Air Force Museum Releases

The Air Force Museum of New Zealand released 47 high-resolution 1938 aerial photographs of Nikumaroro, the first public access.
Keeper Matthew O’Sullivan uncovered the glass-plate negatives, prompting historians to call the collection a “goldmine.”
Researchers say the photos provide baseline data for comparing current lagoon conditions and locating the Taraia Object.
Earhart scholar Ric Gillespie highlighted the images’ value for assessing historic castaway-site evidence.

History

Historical Context

Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific in July 1937, prompting a U.S. Navy aerial survey in 1938 that captured 47 glass-plate photos of Nikumaroro’s lagoon. The Gardner Island hypothesis has kept the atoll a focus of searches. In October 2026, the Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue University launched an expedition to re-examine those images, hoping the Taraia Object may finally reveal Earhart’s Lockheed Electra.

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Steve Schultz Leads Search

Purdue’s Steve Schultz leads a Kiribati expedition to locate Amelia Earhart’s missing plane.
Archaeological Legacy Institute director Rick Pettigrew and three Kiribati officials supervise the search.
The team investigates the “Taraia Object,” a lagoon anomaly recorded in 1938 and 2020.
Researchers will use a hydraulic dredge, magnetometer and sonar to examine the object 30 feet underwater near Nikumaroro.
Despite stormy weather pausing work, the crew says the search remains on schedule.

1 / 3