I've been working my way through the TIGHAR website, (I'm about half way through) and have read a couple of books on the subject (Fred Goerner's book, which I do not believe is credible, and Mary Lovell's The Sound of Wings) of the Amelia Earhart disappearance. The TIGHAR hypothesis seems very plausible to me, but, as I worked my way along, I began to notice some inconsistencies, some of which are troubling:
1. It has been suggested that Amelia and Fred may have survived for months. In another place, it is suggested that with daily temperatures at 120 degrees, they might not have lasted a the week until the search planes flew over. In “The Colonization of the Phoenix Islands” by H.E. Maude, he suggests that "The temperature averages about 82 degrees, with maxima and minima varying only a few degrees above and below this figure, and a variation of less than 3 degrees between the monthly means."
2. If Amelia landed at Gardner, presumably near the wreck of the Norwich City, she would have seen the wreck. I read somewhere that someone received a radio message to the effect: "We are on coral southwest of an unknown island". If she had mentioned in any of her radio transmissions the fact of the wreck, (even if she did not know the name of the wreck) the wreck's location would have been known, and would have helped searchers. The navy pilots would have been alert to the fact of a wreck, and would have paid special attention Gardner when they saw it.
3. In the Coast Guard report, the officer suggested that the radio direction finding bearings taken by Pan Am were 'doubtful'. This is inexplicable to me. I must believe that Pan Am was a reliable source, and since there was no other population in that area, with or without a radio, such transmission could only have come from the Electra. What do they mean, by 'doubtful'? Sounds to me like 'cover your butt'.
4. It took the Colorado a week to get to Gardner. Once the Pan Am triangulations suggested the Phoenix group, by about day three, the Itasca could have been there by day four. Day four might have been in time, when day seven was obviously not. I understand why the crew of the Itasca assumed that they were to the northwest, but when they were not found there, why did they not go southeast to the Phoenix group? Since they could have gotten there three days sooner, they might have been able to rescue the castaways. Isn't that what they do?
5. The aerial photo of Gardner shows surf on the eastern end of the island, from the easterly winds, but the western side would have been less subject to the effect of wind and surf. It has been suggested that the plane was not visible due to action of the wind and surf.
6. It has been suggested that tidal and wave and surf action could have pulled the Electra off the reef within a few days, yet it is also suggested that the colonists on Nikumaroro 'saw aircraft wreckage'.
Terry Richard