FWIW, hasn't the photo analysis been reviewed? Jeff's analysis stated that it was a man made object. As Ric points out, it was later hypothesized to be an aircraft landing gear assembly and Jeff outlined several components of it. The photo was then reviewed by government experts who also declared it to be consistant with the undercarriage of an aircraft, a Lockheed 10e Electra if I recall correctly. If aquatic life or other natural causes have already been considered and ruled out, I don't understand the on-going dispute. Granted, it is impossible to be 100 percent certain it is an aircraft component unless that exact object is located, but several rulings have been made saying it is aircraft wreckage. The question to be asked is, from what aircraft? We, meaning anyone interested in uncovering what really happened to AE/FN, and you're probably not on the forum if you're not, need to focus on finding whatever evidence remains to prove or disprove that the object in the photo may have been a part of the Electra. If it is, great; if not, and it turns out to be from something else, great. The search can continue to somewhere else. Maybe there is wreckage and it is not from the Electra. Maybe it is a lost WWII aircraft. Maybe some colonist was into aircraft scraps and collected bits. We won't know until whatever may be there is identified. I don't think anyone here is trying to undermine anyone's effort to know the truth of what happened to AE/FN. Personally, if it is found that they did crash and sink, were captured and executed, landed and died on Niku, or were abducted by aliens, it doesn't matter to me. I would simply like to know what did happen. Current evidence seems to point to Niku. Maybe that will be proven, maybe not. LTM, who always likes to know where she is. -John