Drift in the Dark
Part 4 of 8
Darkness
Sunset at Lae was 18:09L (08:09GMT) The middle part of the journey was in darkness and likely still cloudy, making the use of the drift-sight difficult. No two-way radio communication was achieved and no radio bearings were given. It is unlikely the aircraft direction-finder was working as Earhart had not got a bearing with it during a test flight the previous day. The high cloud cover and possible ice on the small side windows probably made astro-navigation difficult. Noonan needed three good star shots widely spaced in azimuth to work-out a fix. Had he achieved that he would have corrected his track and revised the wind forecast. The fact that he remained off-course tells me he did not achieve a fix.
Why did they not turn back?
The point of no return with an Easterly wind is about half-way at about 09:00 GMT. ETA back at Lae would be about 02:00am L Lae (16:00 GMT). That means they would have to re-negotiate the squalls East of Lae and make a night approach and landing at Lae with surrounding high ground, in darkness. Not a good prospect, so they pressed on to Howland with the expectation of a homing signal from Itasca.
At about 10:30 GMT, Nauru heard a radio report of a ship in sight. This could have been the SS Myrtlebank inbound to Nauru at about 166.45o E 1.40oS, exactly on the 6 degree North offset track. They probably passed about 120 NM North of USCG Ontario and about 60 NM South of Nauru where a new Light House had been installed, visible at 34 miles at sea level.