Although the disappearance was 87 years ago, it remains of interest to many. On July 19 and 20, it will be the topic of two separate events presented by the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum in Atchison, Kansas.

The discussions are set to take place the same weekend as the town’s Amelia Earhart Festival, which is held the third weekend in July to honor the aviatrix’s birthday, according to museum spokesperson Vanessa Bonavia. Although both talks are sponsored by the museum, they will be held off museum property to allow for a capacity crowd.

• READ MORE: Earhart Museum Nominated for Top Award

The first talk, Adventure Amelia: A Conversation with Explorers in the Search for Amelia Earhart, will be a panel discussion on July 19 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CST at the Fox Theatre Atchison, 612 Commercial Street. The presentation is free, but registration is required. 

The panelists include Deep Sea Vision founder Tony Romeo, who got the world’s attention in January after publishing underwater images taken in the South Pacific that he alleges may be Earhart’s aircraft. He will be joined by his brother Lloyd Romeo, who served as project manager during the expedition.

Also scheduled to participate on the panel is Gary LaPook, a celestial navigation expert with The Stratus Project, a U.K.-based organization that has been searching for Earhart. Liz Smith, a Date Line Theory expert, ocean exploration, and science documentary producer, is also participating. The panel discussion will be moderated by Dorothy Cochrane, curator of the aeronautics department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. 

• READ MORE: Museum Celebrates the Life of Amelia Earhart

Panelists are expected to discuss where they believe the famous Electra is now, the reasons for its disappearance, and the evidence that supports their claims.

“As the curator for general aviation that includes the history of women in aviation, I have presented in various conferences and forums solo or with others,” Cochrane said. “Of course, I’ve done many media interviews and articles. At the museum I am responsible for Earhart’s transatlantic Lockheed Vega and related material that will soon be displayed again in the museum’s Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery.”

According to Cochrane, a common question asked is “why Howland Island?” followed by “why was Earhart making the flight?” 

“While not perfectly planned, it was not a stunt,” Cochrane said. “It is exactly what Earhart did for a living—setting records and then writing and lecturing. Women pilots had very few money-making opportunities since they were not allowed to fly in the military or in commercial airlines, and the private sector had little serious interest in them (except Beech Aircraft, that’s another story with Louise Thaden). So, Earhart built her own career. She truly loved flying and touring and supporting other women pilots.”

• READ MORE: Amelia Earhart’s Legacy Enshrined at New Kansas Museum

Deep Dive With Deep Sea Vision

On July 20, the Romeo brothers will talk about their process for searching the more than 5,200 square miles of ocean near Howland Island looking for the final resting place of the Electra.

The expedition spent 90 days on-site searching for the famous airplane that disappeared while trying to find Howland Island, which was a fuel stop as part of Earhart’s attempt to fly around the world. The Deep Sea Vision expedition relied on underwater drones. One of them captured a sonar image that to some people resembles an airplane.

“Both the Romeo brothers are pilots, so they will be bringing the pilot perspective into it,” Bonavia said.

• READ MORE: Ocean Exploration Company Thinks It Found Earhart’s Airplane

The pair will share highlights from their search for the Lockheed Electra 10-E and the company’s plans to launch its confirmation expedition with a high-powered camera to look for more evidence, such as the aircraft’s “NR16020” registration number. The conversation will be moderated by Amelia Rose Earhart, a pilot, author, and artist who in 2014 honored her namesake by completing a global circumnavigation flight.

The Deep Dive with Deep Sea Vision will take place at 9 a.m. CDT at the O’Malley-McAllister Auditorium at Benedictine College in Atchison. 

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According to the Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation, the state-of-the-art museum located in Earhart’s birthplace, will be the first to combine STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and the history of the trail-blazing aviatrix.

History and STEM

Among the exhibits on display will be a Lockheed Electra 10-E, the same model of aircraft Earhart was flying on her last flight. According to museum officials, the aircraft, named Muriel, after Earhart’s sister, is the last remaining Lockheed 10-E.

• Other exhibits include a full-scale replica of the cockpit of Muriel so that visitors can enter to get a better idea of what it was like to be inside the aircraft described as Earhart’s flying laboratory.
• Interactive exhibits demonstrating advances in engineering since the 1930s.
• 3-D aircraft holograms tracing technological innovations in aviation.
• An exhibit, “Above the Clouds,” which invites visitors to explore celestial navigation, radio waves, and atmospheric conditions.
• A virtual reality opportunity to fly Earhart’s Lockheed Vega 5B on the 1932 transatlantic flight.

Earhart the Scientist

Although Earhart, born in 1897, is best remembered as an aviator, she also had a keen interest in science. According to biographies of Earhart, chemistry was one of her favorite subjects in school, and when she looked at colleges she insisted on visiting their science departments. She had a life-long interest in learning, as she studied to be a nurse during World War I and took a course on engine repair when a sinus condition took her out of the air for a few months.

Earhart the Pilot

Earhart took her first airplane flight in 1920 at age 23, and quickly decided flying was something she wanted to pursue. She earned her pilot certificate in 1921 and was soon setting aviation records, including in 1932 being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic solo. 

In 1935 she became the first person to make solo flights from Hawaii to California, and from Mexico City to Newark. That same year she joined the faculty at Purdue University as a technical adviser to the department of aeronautics. During her time at Purdue, she developed the idea of the around-the-world flight and using the Lockheed as a flying laboratory. Although she never returned from her final flight, she became a symbol of courage and innovation—so much so that in the 1990s, Apple Computer used her likeness in their Think Differently campaign.

Museum Designed for Education

Museum officials note that the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum is designed in partnership with Dimensional Innovations (DI), an award-winning, Kansas-based experience design firm, and each exhibit is carefully outfitted to meet National Curriculum Standards, Kansas Curriculum Content Standards and Missouri Standards of Learning. In addition, professionally developed teacher guides are available. 

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