Most people (and media) are not accustomed to what sonar images look like.  The whole point of sonar is that you can tell what you're looking at.

To me it sort of looks like a floatplane. Inverted with twin floats. The blob running parallel to the the fuselage a the top of the image would be one of the floats and the other float hiding or blending in with the fuselage.

I got to tell our side of the story in a 36 minute interview that aired yesterday (2/3) on FOX NEWS LIVE.  You can see it at https://youtu.be/4g6jch-48HU

Romeo dismisses this criticism. Both the wings and the tail look swept back due to distortion caused by the AUV moving through the water


I'd be interested to see other examples of this phenomenon.

I keep seeing references to the "double tail" on this image.  Am I missing something?  I don't see it.

The Naval Institute Press has released a preview of my new book One More Good Flight - The Amelia Earhart Mystery.
You can read it at https://issuu.com/usnibooks/docs/gillespie_one_more_good_flight_book_prvw

The preview includes:
• The Table of Contents
• The Preface
•  Chapter One - Plane Crazy
•  Chapter Two - Fame And More Fame
•  The Index (with dummy text). The Index has not yet been completed.
•  About The Author

It’s actually more than we expected the publisher to reveal prior to the full book’s official release September 15, 2024. Let me know what you think.

We've been sending out news bulletin emails about this.  Click HERE for the most recent one.  It's shareable on social media.

You can sign up to receive the news bulletin emails at https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001vRta0njc69PE4KR_0trczjmW3Zr8vlaX3D_FmQYpdnngc8VkfAfLBxUjnrLR8ZN0kpVZzBNuOTHSeq9nIYOqKNMv6q42K9ko0H0rd_5Q8ik%3D

Even if it looks like swept wings, the image is basically like a shadow. You don't know how the object is oriented. Yes, it looks like an FJ-4, but it could also be a WWII era carrier aircraft with wings partially folded. Some of them stowed in a "swept" configuration.

The ferry route to Australia took aircraft to Christmas Island, then Canton, etc. It could easily be a C-47. When you have a blurry mish-mash of an image, the nose section, engines and slightly swept wings of the C-47 might look even more swept.

According to the interviewer at the 6:45 point in the linked Youtube video below, Bob Ballard believed the plane to be "in the sea off Howland" as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyfTi2-VQDY
I wonder if after his previous searches and expeditions in that area he picked up the same thing, or something similar they want to revisit. The way he says "stay tuned" seems like he has some information he is not willing to share.

If the plane went down west of Howland, the prevailing currents and wind would have the plane drift west, not east.  The post-loss aerial search by the Navy correctly assumed this.  Based upon the ship logs' re-navigation, I was able to determine that the narrow Equatorial CounterCurrent, which runs west to east, was narrow and above 2* N.  This current would be in opposition to the winds, largely putting her plane in somewhat of a static east-west position.