TIGHAR
Amelia Earhart Search Forum => General discussion => Topic started by: Ingo Prangenberg on May 25, 2012, 11:35:27 AM
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The area in which the supposed "Wheel of Fortune" was sighted was in knee deep water. Since Dr. Stone (adult male) could not pull the wheel out of the water it must have been anchored pretty well by something, either more metal or hardened sediment. Maybe it was/is anchored well enough to resist having been moved by the next storm and rests under a layer of sand, easy to miss during a visual walk-through survey.
Even if its position changed, it might only have been moved farther into the lagoon a bit. At this point it might be interesting to research this area with a surface towed marine magnetometer. Compared to the costs of the ROV this unit is a bargain and can be pulled by a person, keeping in mind that the person towing it should have no metal on them during the process.
This object would be a positive identifying part of the Earhart plane and should possibly be looked for again.
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The Electra's wheels were made of an aluminum-magnesium alloy. A magnetometer will respond only to ferrous metal. The steel axle was not present. The area has been swept repeatedly with metal detectors.
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I was afraid of it being a aluminum-magnesium alloy and not aware of the previous use of metal detectors. That is a very light metal, early Volkswagen engine cases are made of these and weight virtually nothing.
I still wonder why it couldn't be pulled from the sand.
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I still wonder why it couldn't be pulled from the sand.
There was no sand. It was reportedly cemented to the reef surface (coral). That happens when something rests on the reef for a period of time - although we're not sure what that period of time is - weeks, months, years?