The Lae Takeoff - a closer look

[Ric Gillespie]

To get an accurate idea of how much fuel Earhart could have had after landing at Gardner we have to start from Lae and calculate how much fuel she should have used if she followed Kelly Johnson's recommendations.  Bob Brandenburg is working on a paper on fuel consumption during the Lae/Howland(not) flight and, as often happens, his research has raised questions which have led us to an unrelated but rather startling discovery. Instead of just blurting it out, I'll give you the background information and ask a few questions that will let you connect the dots.

We have good primary source information for Kelly Johnson's recommendations for how Earhart should manage altitude/power settings/fuel consumption during each stage of the flight except the first hour.  In his excellent 1989 article "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight" published in Lockheed Corporation's internal magazine Lockheed Horizons, Lockheed executive Roy Blay wrote that, if Johnson's recommendations were followed, fuel consumption would be
1 hour - 100 gph
3 hours - 60 gph
3 hours - 51 gph
3 hours - 43 gph
Thereafter - 38 gph

These numbers track well with Johnson's telegrams except Johnson makes no mention of the first hour.  To verify Blay's 100 gph figure,  Bob began examining Lockheed's quaintly titled  Report #487 "Range Study of Lockheed Electra Bimotor Airplane". 
Report #487 was in response to a request from Earhart.
In May 1936, while Earhart's 10E Special was being built, Lockheed ran flight tests on another 10E to determine whether it was possible for a 10E to fly 4,500 miles unrefueled - the distance Earhart, at that time, planned to fly solo from Hawaii to Tokyo.  They loaded the airplane to 16,500 pounds and flew their tests.  Of course, one of the biggest challenges was just getting the airplane off the ground.  Take a look at Summary and Recommendations on page 1 of the report, then look at the film of the Lae takeoff.  I've put it up on Youtube at  http://youtu.be/ntkOyDanuRw
See anything interesting?

[Hal Banks]

I'm not seeing the recommended 30 degrees of flap much less any deployment of flaps for takeoff.  Quite a feat if that's true!

Hal

[Ted G Campbell]

No flaps down!

[Ric Gillespie]

Quite a feat if that's true!

Yes, if you want to call turning what should have been a difficult but safe takeoff into an unnecessarily hair-raising and nearly catastrophic debacle quite a feat.  This appears to have been a piloting screw-up of the first magnitude. 

[Hal Banks]

Agreed.  I'm guessing the use of a checklist wasn't a priority for Amelia.  Amazing find, Ric.

[Hal Banks]

So, I have to ask what's our confidence level that she would (or could) follow the rest of Kelly's recommendations, particularly concerning power settings and fuel consumption?

[Monty Fowler]

"What the heck is this lever down here used for? Haven't needed that one in awhile. Let's just go ahead and get this show in the roadddddddddddddddddddddddd ..."

*actual invented reconstructed dialog from the non-existent Earhart aircraft cockpit microphone and CVR*

LTM,
Monty Fowler,
TIGHAR No. 2189 ECSP

[Ric Gillespie]

Agreed.  I'm guessing the use of a checklist wasn't a priority for Amelia.

Written checklists were not yet in common use but I doubt that this was a simple oversight.  AE had a habit of simply blowing-off stuff like learning Morse code, learning how to use her RDF, or even translating radio frequencies from the British "meters" system to kilocycles.  Flaps on takeoff?  What sense does that make?  Flaps are for landing.  Did she even read Report 487 and if she did, did she understand it?

[Ric Gillespie]

So, I have to ask what's our confidence level that she would (or could) follow the rest of Kelly's recommendations, particularly concerning power settings and fuel consumption?

Not great, but if she hadn't followed his recommendations fairly closely she should't have gotten as far as she did.

[Andrew M McKenna]

Amazing!

Do we have a photo of the aircraft configured at 30° Flaps for comparison?

Andrew

[Hal Banks]

Thank you, Ric.  Good points about the written checklists and her "success" to at least Lae.  I continue to be amazed at the discoveries you've managed to reveal in this 77 year old accident investigation.

LOL Monty, "We don't need no stinkin' flaps!"

[Joe Cerniglia]

Quite a feat if that's true!

Yes, if you want to call turning what should have been a difficult but safe takeoff into an unnecessarily hair-raising and nearly catastrophic debacle quite a feat.  This appears to have been a piloting screw-up of the first magnitude.

Could the omission of flaps have contributed to the belly antenna's becoming detached, as it's believed to have, due to delaying the takeoff?  Or would the weight of the aircraft from a heavy fuel load be chiefly responsible?

Joe Cerniglia
TIGHAR #3078R

[JNev]

Agreed.  I'm guessing the use of a checklist wasn't a priority for Amelia.

Written checklists were not yet in common use but I doubt that this was a simple oversight.  AE had a habit of simply blowing-off stuff like learning Morse code, learning how to use her RDF, or even translating radio frequencies from the British "meters" system to kilocycles.  Flaps on takeoff?  What sense does that make?  Flaps are for landing.  Did she even read Report 487 and if she did, did she understand it?

Had she lived to make another take-off that last one might have gotten her attention, after she got through picking the seat cushion out of her backside...

[Dale O. Beethe]

I could be totally wrong here, but I find myself getting more and more an impression of AE being more interested in being a famous aviator than in being a really good aviator.  When I compare what little I know of other aviators of the time, (for instance pilots like Jimmy Doolittle) she doesn't appear to be in the same league.  Desire for fame and publicity seemed to trump the desire for increased skill and capabilities most, if not all, the time.

[Ric Gillespie]

I could be totally wrong here, but I find myself getting more and more an impression of AE being more interested in being a famous aviator than in being a really good aviator.

Ya think?