Summary of Debris from 2010 Video

[Tim Mellon]

BTW, to whom it may concern, the rationale for now concentrating on cabin items such as bracelets is as follows:

(1) IMHO, most of the recognizable aircraft components have been identified, even if many are unable to see and identify them;

(2) Small items, such as octants and bracelets can be found in their entirety , having not been broken up in the fall;

(3) Small items can be measured and compared against actual photographs of the object, which is helpful to the forensic types;

(4) Small items, such as the Kodak camera, may have serial numbers (as does its lense) that can be compared to records;

(5) Small items in abundance, as they are seen distributed over the Navigator's station, provide insight into the motivations of the crew;

(6) Patterns of small items create their own aggregate probability of successful identification of the Earhart mission.

Not that I wouldn't like to find a complete engine, of course.

[Tom Swearengen]

Hello all--
Yep Ive been absent for a bit. Gee---
Are we any closer to getting the evidence we need, or are we still looking around? I've noticed some posts of musical instruments. Not to question Tim, but I would think that AE might now bring something like that on the over the water leg. I dont know----see seemed to have made some other miscalculations, so I guess anything is possible.
So---where do we go from here?

[Tim Mellon]

I still believe the pictures are too obscure to tell natural from certain items of man at this point, IMO, but if a mission were formulated to go back, what breadth and depth of focus do you see as necessary?  A surgical focus in this area is high risk as I see it, for example, so do you see a need to keep the door open for another expanded search should these items prove 'natural' after all?

As you pointed out to "william" I have no position at TIGHAR, so I think any advice I might give would be gratuitous at best, and not based on all the information that is available to those who are officially engaged in the endeavor. That said, Jeff, I think my focus and yours might differ considerably so, luckily, you and I won't have to have a shoot-out with scissors-rock-paper! In any case, presuming there will be another mission might, at this stage, be slightly pre-mature. Much will certainly depend upon the considered studies and conclusions reached by Mr. Glickman, and how those, in turn, are packaged for "resale".

[Tim Mellon]

Another small non-airplane item (undoubtedly without a serial number) that I was not able to fit into the picture of the instruments and cases: an old-fashioned fly-swatter that spans from the screen end sitting on the violin to the wire handle resting on the neck of the banjo. Just like the ones used to spank us in our youth. At first I was hoping this linear item would turn out to be the violin bow, but now I will have to search again.

I know, I know, all fly-swatters look just like camels, or coral.

[Bob Lanz]

Another small non-airplane item (undoubtedly without a serial number) that I was not able to fit into the picture of the instruments and cases: an old-fashioned fly-swatter that spans from the screen end sitting on the violin to the wire handle resting on the neck of the banjo. Just like the ones used to spank us in our youth. At first I was hoping this linear item would turn out to be the violin bow, but now I will have to search again.

I know, I know, all fly-swatters look just like camels, or coral.

Tim, you and I are the same age give or take a few months and I don't ever recall that I was ever spanked with a fly swatter.  Given that, I'd like to see a better pic of it.  Can you provide a time stamp for the Fly Swatter pic in the video?

[Tim Mellon]

I don't ever recall that I was ever spanked with a fly swatter. 

Can you provide a time stamp for the Fly Swatter pic in the video?

That's because you were such a good boy, Bob!

Time was 13:36:58, frame 09.

[JNev]

I still believe the pictures are too obscure to tell natural from certain items of man at this point, IMO, but if a mission were formulated to go back, what breadth and depth of focus do you see as necessary?  A surgical focus in this area is high risk as I see it, for example, so do you see a need to keep the door open for another expanded search should these items prove 'natural' after all?

As you pointed out to "william" I have no position at TIGHAR, so I think any advice I might give would be gratuitous at best, and not based on all the information that is available to those who are officially engaged in the endeavor. That said, Jeff, I think my focus and yours might differ considerably so, luckily, you and I won't have to have a shoot-out with scissors-rock-paper! In any case, presuming there will be another mission might, at this stage, be slightly pre-mature. Much will certainly depend upon the considered studies and conclusions reached by Mr. Glickman, and how those, in turn, are packaged for "resale".

Thanks Tim.  No, no shoot out is needed or wanted (I always lose at 'paper, rock, scissors' too...) - we share an interest in finding answers if we can, that's enough for me. 

Just wondering how you might view any further effort.  I guess it is fairly clear what I think would be needed, however impractical.  And I agree there are things going on in the background that might produce a smarter direction.

"Resale" is an interesting term...

[Tim Mellon]

At the top of frame 24, time 13:36:59 on the 2010 HD video, appears an object that looks to me awfully much like a Ballentine's Ale can. The three-ring logo is evident. Ale and beer were sold in cans starting in 1933. Camels don't drink ale that I know of.

Several rolls of toilet paper can be seen to the lower right.

[Chris Johnson]

At least it seems that AE's undergarments remain hidden  ;)

[Tim Mellon]

In the 2010 HD video this morning I found what I think might be the upper portion of the second landing gear. It lies upside down ("V" brace pointing up) to the left and below the axle and deflated tire reported earlier. The first arrow points to the cross piece at the top of the "V"; the second to the cylinder, and the third to the axle and tire. Being in separate pieces like this is still not inconsistent with the configuration of the Bevington Object.

The second picture, taken from the 2012 Standard Definition video, shows the same parts (I think) somewhat the worse for wear, and more covered by the "snow".

[Tim Mellon]

I am now thinking that the 2012 Standard Definition video shows more of the first landing gear assembly than at first apparent, namely the out-of-place worm gear lying at the bottom of the tire. The relative sizes of the wheel+tire and the worm gear compare favorably to those in the Harney diagrams.

The second picture shows the same 2012 view on the High Definition video. Fuzzier.

A small portion of the worm gear is also evident in the 2010 High Definition video (the remainder of the gear is obsucured by the tire due to camera angle). The third clip shows the teeth, the clamp holding the worm gear to the cylinder, and a portion of the displaced cylinder.

[Tim Mellon]

"trompe l'oeil's"

I believe the plural is trompes d'oeil.

[JNev]

Of course, Jeff, I am willing to concede that those instruments might be a trompe l'oeil, or a clever hologram placed there by National Geographic....                                 

:)

Well, in my experience, mother nature is among the most clever of all illusionists - maybe if not deliberate, for no other reason than just because she has so much time, random forces and material on her hands.  And we, her step-children, have a long-imprinted view of patterns coupled with the sleek imaginations we were Graced with, all in SomeOne's great good humor...

I may be criticized for agreeing or disagreeing with this or that, or for being too light of heart about things (or harsh, at times), but I dare any to fault my finding the sheer joy in seeing a bunch of us 'kids' on a search such as this one.  So much to be discovered about so many things along the way for those who can appreciate a worthy distraction now and then.

[Bob Lanz]

At least it seems that AE's undergarments remain hidden  ;)

We'd have it no other way for the lady, although by one account shared by Gary LaPook's sister at the symposium AE was anything but modest (and was reported to have resembled a "sack full of doorknobs" when stepping out of the shower...).

Oh my Jeff, now you have destroyed my image of that little cutie.  ;)

[Bob Lanz]

"trompe l'oeil's"

I believe the plural is trompes d'oeil.

We're both wrong mon ami arche.  noun (plural trompe l'oeils pronunc. same )

Bad Bob, who was never spanked with a fly swatter.  ;)