Bob Ballard to search for Earhart plane

[Ric Gillespie]

On July 23, 2019, National Geographic announced that Bob Ballard, finder of the Titanic, will try to find the Earhart aircraft at Nikumaroro.
Prior to TIGHAR's 2012 expedition, Dr. Ballard described his views on the search for the Earhart plane and wished TIGHAR "fair winds, a following sea, and a little luck" (https://youtu.be/67qlnUXBdrQ). We sincerely wish him the same.
TIGHAR will not be officially participating in the expedition but we have reached an agreement with National Geographic for TIGHAR's assistance in the production of the two-hour television special "Expedition Amelia." All news about the expedition will come from National Geographic. We will, of course, keep TIGHAR members informed about our continuing Earhart research.

NOTE:  This topic was originally posted on July 24 but mysteriously disappeared overnight.  A similar notice on the TIGHAR homepage also disappeared.  We're investigating.

[Ric Gillespie]

Mystery solved. Nothing nefarious.  Webmaster Marty Moleski was doing maintenance on the website at the same time we were putting up new information. When Marty finished, the website re-booted to the way it was before we put up the Ballard info.
All fixed now.

[Shannon Council]

Ric, is any member of TIGHAR going on Ballard's expedition?

[Joy Diane Forster]

The National Geographic announcement was a good article (the show preview was a little over dramatic).  Do we know how long Ballard will search?  I may have missed that but don't recall seeing that information in the article.

[Ric Gillespie]

Ric, is any member of TIGHAR going on Ballard's expedition?

The land team is mostly made up of TIGHAR expedition veterans but they're participating as private citizen volunteers, not as TIGHAR representatives.

[Bill Mangus]

I'm posting a link to the MV Nautilus that Ric put up in the thread for the search for the Samoa Clipper.  Although the search has ended, the link is still live and still being periodically updated.

Who knows, maybe it will be active during the search for the Electra, even though Nat'l Geo will likely kill it so as to control the news until their October program. 

Keep it handy on your desktop!

https://nautiluslive.org/

[Ric Gillespie]

The National Geographic announcement was a good article (the show preview was a little over dramatic).  Do we know how long Ballard will search?  I may have missed that but don't recall seeing that information in the article.

As part of our agreement with Nat Geo, I can't talk about Ballard's plans.  The PR contact at Nat Geo is Molly Mulrain, email Molly.mulrain@natgeo.com. Phone 610-202-6782

[Joy Diane Forster]

I'm posting a link to the MV Nautilus that Ric put up in the thread for the search for the Samoa Clipper.  Although the search has ended, the link is still live and still being periodically updated.

Who knows, maybe it will be active during the search for the Electra, even though Nat'l Geo will likely kill it so as to control the news until their October program. 

Keep it handy on your desktop!

https://nautiluslive.org/

According to a brief CNN article, the Nautilus link above will be active during the search for the Electra.   Another, longer article by the Washington Post states that the expedition will last 3 weeks and that National Geographic will announce any significant findings prior to the airing of the special.   

See that article here:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/07/24/this-explorer-found-titanic-his-new-mission-solve-amelia-earharts-disappearance/?utm_term=.b59bb4a15c7f

[Bill Mangus]

Unfortunately for us, it looks as if there will be no live feed during the search.

https://nautiluslive.org/blog/2019/07/24/ev-nautilus-joins-expedition-solve-mystery-amelia-earhart%E2%80%99s-disappearance

They say MV Nautilus will be a "closed set" during the search.

[Shannon Council]

Ric, is any member of TIGHAR going on Ballard's expedition?

The land team is mostly made up of TIGHAR expedition veterans but they're participating as private citizen volunteers, not as TIGHAR representatives.

Credit should be given where credit is due in regards to any significant discoveries during this expedition. Ballard and NG are standing on the shoulders of giants when using TIGHAR's immense collection of Niku research results since 1989, when Ric started this adventure.

Good luck to all involved. Hopefully they find the 'smoking gun' needed for the general public's approval, but more importantly, that they return safely.

[Andrew M McKenna]

TIGHAR is getting quite a bit of credit for our past research, and I think that NG and Ballard are quite aware of the history and are trying to give credit where credit is due.  For example, take a look at this interview with Allison Fundis, the Director of Operations aboard the R/V Nautilus:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p8bs48pjrNiwZuv8jj2C3whlplsb0Iz5/view

While TIGHAR may not be directly participating in this expedition, TIGHAR is supporting it by making our previous research available.  The goal is to enhance the chances that something diagnostic will be found.

Fingers Crossed!

Andrew

[Bill Mangus]

I agree Andrew and credit is nice but doesn't tell the Tighar story of the last 30 years.  Ric has said, "The story of TIGHAR's investigation is an epic of Homeric proportions, full of failure and triumph, heartache and jubilation".  I hope this is an integral part of the October show.

I do wish NG would reconsider their decision to "close the set" and not live stream the ROV search.  I understand that their decision is likely based on not wanting to spill the beans too early in order to attract a larger viewing audience in October.  I would argue that the people most likely to watch the live stream are the numerous Tighar members who have donated their time, money and expertise, yourself included, who would also tune in to the program to see how well - or poorly - Tighar is portrayed.  There are probably not many people other than Tighar members and perhaps a few proponents of the other theories, who would be willing to sit in front of their monitor for hours hoping to see (or not see) any bits and pieces that may appear.

I'd argue the live stream, with any off-the-cuff narration that may occur about Tighar, Ric, the expeditions to Niku, other evidence and theories, and artifacts found and analyzed as they "mow the lawn" would only whet the appetite of any casual viewers and make them even more likely to tune-in in October to learn about the whole story.  NG has already said they'll report any important news (finding of aircraft parts?) directly from the expedition, so it is not like putting a live stream up is giving anything away.

My opinion anyway.

[Ted G Campbell]

All,

It is obvious that TIGHAR and its membership are delighted that National Geographic (NG) and Bob Ballard are in the planning stages of launching a search off Niku in hopes of finding A.E.'s plane.

However, I am a little concerned about the way the search and documentation thereof has been presented here on the Forum i.e. no live feed to the TIGHAR members, no TIGHAR representation aboard the search vessels, etc.

We all know that NG is not taking this project on as a solely public service venture i.e. what about future revenue to NG from sponsors, etc.

It seems to me that NG should JOIN TIGHAR in this search in a manner resembling a "joint venture"; For example:
   - accommodate a TIGHAR executive/representative in joining the voyage
        - accommodate the TIGHAR representative in communicating with
          his/her members during the search
        - providing a copy of the final NG presentation to all, then registered,
          TIGHAR members 
in return for the data, artifacts, research and analysis of the hypothesis formulated over the past 30 years.

The reason I have proposed the above is because I believe each TIGHAR member, past and present, have contributed to NG's interest in this project. These contributions take on many forms e.g. monetary, research in libraries, local newspapers, government archives, etc.

I believe one could almost declare all of these contributions as a "copy right "to the information NG has received and processed in their decision to pursue their search.

In closing, I am grateful and excited in seeing what NG comes up with from this search; but, at the same time I believe TIGHAR's executives/membership/donators/ etc. deserve a presence in this endeavor.

Seek the Legend's truth and let AE and FN smile down once again on their attempt to change aeronautical's and its accomplishments.

Ted Campbell

[Greg Daspit]

This is exciting news and a big surprise.
Their expedition is already underway and is surveying several regions. The Nikumaroro area is scheduled for August 7 to August 25 . That's next week so they are past planning stages.
Here is the link to the Nautilus tech
https://nautiluslive.org/tech

The ROVs
Hercules:
A 4,000 meter depth ROV with manipulator arms
Imaging tech:
One high-definition video channel on fiber optic, four standard definition video channels on coax.

Lighting •Two Deep Sea Power & Light Matrix-3 LED lamps, 20,000 lumens, forward mounted
•Six to twelve Deep Sea Power & Light Sphere LED lamps, 6,000 lumens, mounting configurable
•SCALING | Two green Deep Sea Power & Light Micro Sea-Lasers, mounted 10 cm (3.94 inches) apart, HD camera only

Argus- A 6,000 meter depth towsled-style ROV that can work in tandem with Argus
Do they need to secure the ship the same as other expeditions with the Hercules capable of working in tandem with the Argus?
What lessons learned were passed along from the 2012 expedition? For example securing the ship to the Norwich propeller shaft and sharing videos of possible interest (2012 possible debris field).

Questions for the technical experts:
Is their High def camera capable of a live feed to ship? It says it is on fiber optic so I assume yes?
For comparison what amount of lumens were available on the ROV used in the 2012 expedition?
In layman's terms what is the difference in Sonar Tech being used compared to the sonar used in the 2012 TIGHAR expedition?

[Bill Mangus]

@ Ted Campbell:

Well said, sir.  Very well said!