New England Air Museum Presentation

[Ric Gillespie]

In case anyone wants to come.

[Ted G Campbell]

Ric,

Is it possible for Pat, or some other member, to take a video of your presentation that could be posted on the site?

Ted Campbell

[Jon Romig]

I'll be there. The museum said reservations were going fast.

Jon

Edit: the museum website now says the event is sold out.

[Ted G Campbell]

Can anyone take a video of the event?
Ted Campbell

[Ric Gillespie]

Can anyone take a video of the event?

At a minimum, I'll get a good audio recording of my talk and add it as a voice-over to the powerpoint. That's what I did with the Asheville, NC presentation that has gotten nearly 85,000 views on Youtube.

[Ric Gillespie]

I'll be there.

See ya there Jon!

[Ric Gillespie]

My stand-up routine is now on the TIGHAR homepage and on Youtube

[Joy Diane Forster]

Great presentation, Rick!  I hope you got a lot of new TIGHAR members and sold some books.

I didn't get to see the History Channel show, so I do have to ask....   Did they get any of the facts correct?

[Kurt Kummer]

Thanks for the link to your presentation Ric.  I just watched it too.  You did a great job summarizing TIGHAR's hypothesis, evidence and methodology, as well as the differing theories and the history of the search for Amelia over the years.  Well done!

[Ric Gillespie]

Did they get any of the facts correct?

A few, but in the opening of the show they even reversed the final takeoff film.

[Jon Romig]

Great presentation, Ric. Sorry I missed it.

The full video with the slides - plus your face - is vastly superior to slides and audio only. NEAM did a super job with that - kudos to them.

Even the questions are intelligent and interesting!

I hope this gets a lot of "air play."

Jon

[Diane James]

Ric,

Great presentation! Toward the end of your presentation, in response to a question, you were discussing when the landing gear may have separated from the airframe.  You thought it was not during the landing itself, but later when the waves were washing the airplane off the reef flat.

It's just a pilot's speculative thinking, but if I had been down on the reef at low tide with an intact airplane I would have taxied the airplane under its own power as far up the reef and even as far up the beach as possible, to minimize the exposure to waves. I wouldn't have left the airplane "part in and part out" of the water if the ability to re-position it existed. Wouldn't you?  Wouldn't any pilot?

If the left main gear assembly had failed during the landing itself that would have resulted in the left wingtip digging in, skewing the airplane around to its left, and throwing the occupants forward and right. Without shoulder harnesses, short Amelia would have been thrown toward the middle of the flight deck and probably not struck much, while taller Fred would have been thrown into the cabin structure to his right, likely resulting in serious injury. An early gear failure would also be an explanation of why she didn't later re-position the airplane: the right engine (with generator) would have been able to run at low tide, but the airplane would not have been movable.

Just my thoughts... ???

Diane

[Patrick Dickson]

sounds logical to me......or perhaps, during the attempt to relocate the plane a tire/wheel was caught in a fissure in the reef flat. And there it remained.

[Ric Gillespie]

It's just a pilot's speculative thinking, but if I had been down on the reef at low tide with an intact airplane I would have taxied the airplane under its own power as far up the reef and even as far up the beach as possible, to minimize the exposure to waves. I wouldn't have left the airplane "part in and part out" of the water if the ability to re-position it existed. Wouldn't you?  Wouldn't any pilot?

Sure, but the only part of the reef that is smooth enough to land or taxi on is out near the ocean edge.  The rest of the surface is jagged and deeply pitted. Moving closer to the beach is not an option.

If the left main gear assembly had failed during the landing itself that would have resulted in the left wingtip digging in, skewing the airplane around to its left, and throwing the occupants forward and right. Without shoulder harnesses, short Amelia would have been thrown toward the middle of the flight deck and probably not struck much, while taller Fred would have been thrown into the cabin structure to his right, likely resulting in serious injury. An early gear failure would also be an explanation of why she didn't later re-position the airplane: the right engine (with generator) would have been able to run at low tide, but the airplane would not have been movable.

As noted above, it's not necessary to collapse a gear leg on landing to explain why the plane wasn't moved closer to shore.  Occam tells us, "Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity."  In other words, don't make things more complicated than they need to be.

[Scott C. Mitchell]

Noting the above, that must have been a heck of landing for Amelia, exhausted from stress and lack of sleep, on a narrow band of angled shoreline possibly with a sheet of water catching one or both wheels, with possible gusts of wind coming from seaward.  Hats off to Amelia as pilot of her craft!  With the description above of the jagged shoreline just beyond the ocean's reach, she really was caught between the devil and deep blue sea -- and she pulled it off.

Scott
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