Popular mechanics article August-September 2024

[Matt Revington]

Good article, and good publicity Ric

[Bill Mangus]

Hi Matt,

Did you mean to attach a link to or the article itself?  It's not there.

[Matt Revington]

https://apple.news/ITZWCl89ITPKOmbTcHPLYVA

I have access only through an Apple News subscription but I suspect it will soon be in stores.  The cover references the Earhart search

[Matt Revington]

It showed up in my apple news subscription feed but it is apparently a digital only issue that you need some kind of subscription to access

https://www.popularmechanics.com/promotions/a40118846/download-exclusive-pop-mech-digital-issues/

[Ric Gillespie]

The article is now at https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/a61857673/this-man-knows-the-truth-about-amelia-earhart-why-doesnt-anyone-believe-him/

My response:

As the "this man" who knows the truth about Amelia Earhart, I recognize that the ridiculous claim that no one believes me is merely click-bait to get people to read the article. The subtitle is more accurate:
 
"Piecing together Earhart's final moments was hard enough. Convincing the world he's right has been much tougher."
 
The article is an example of what makes it so tough. Thanks to some rigorous pre-publication fact-checking, the piece presents a fairly accurate description of my personal history and personality, but in breaking down how I "know the truth" about Earhart, the writer is clearly in over his head. 
 
For example, in describing Earhart's use of her radiotelephone, the writer explains, "Long before cables had been laid on the oceans' floors, cross-continent communications relied on shortwave radio waves ... to transmit voice messages."
 
The first continent-to-continent cable went into service in 1858, but an undersea cable would not be of any use to an airplane anyway. In 1937, long range aviation communication was accomplished by low-frequency (not shortwave) radio in Morse code (not voice). The article fails to note that Earhart's refusal to learn Morse code, thereby limiting her to short range high frequency radiotelephone communication, was a major factor in her failure to find Howland Island.
 
In another gem, Earhart's radio direction finder is described as, "A transmitter mounted on her plane (that) could zero in on radio frequencies ... sent by receivers on the ground." That's completely backward. Transmitters send. Receivers receive.
 
The writer's discussion of TIGHAR's investigation – how it began and what we have found – is full of falsehoods, misunderstandings, and trivializations too numerous to catalog. Worse, much of our most compelling evidence, such as Betty Klenck's transcription of Earhart's distress calls and the multiple Pan American directional bearings that cross near Gardner Island, is nowhere to be found. 
 
At the end of the article, the writer says, "In September, he will publish One More Good Flight, a book that will sew all the threads of his Earhart story together. Will it become the definitive text? Or will it be yet another tome in the vast catalog of Earhart discourse?"
 
Scholars have already answered his question:
 
"Readers interested in Amelia Earhart's disappearance need look no further than Ric Gillespie's book. ... Although this book may not satisfy every skeptic, it will stand for some time as the definitive explanation for what may be the mystery of the 20th century."
  —William F. Trimble, Professor Emeritus at Auburn University, author of Admiral John S. McCain and the Triumph of Naval Air Power.
 
"There is no shortage of books about Amelia Earhart, but One More Good Flight is the only one based exclusively on hard evidence. Those who seek definitive answers about the fate of Amelia Earhart need look no further."
  —Richard L. Jantz, Director Emeritus of Forensic Anthropology Center, University of Tennessee