If both wires were still there, both A/S indicators could have been off. In whatever case, AE should have been able to maintain close to the correct airspeed just by using the proper power settings in conjunction with the other flight instruments.
I think you have discovered why Earhart ran out of gas just after the 2013 Z message. Both pitot masts were bent out of shape causing both airspeed indicators to read too low.
gl
You're doing it again Gary. You speculated that AE ran out of gas but said it as though it was fact. "I think you have discovered why Earhart ran out of gas just after the 2013 Z message."
TIGHAR doesn't know what happened to AE and neither do you. Are you intentionally twisting things to suit your way of thinking because you have no real evidence to work with?
I could just say it this way. " Objection your honor, statement has no basis in evidence or fact.". Probably not the right words but you get my point.
Sure there is evidence, the most compelling of which is Earhart saying she only had a half hour of fuel left at 1940 Z. One radioman recorded it that way, "SEZ RUNNING OUT OF GAS ONLY 1/2 HR LEFT," and the other paraphrased it as "BUT GAS IS RUNNING LOW." Now it didn't make sense that she should be running out that soon but it was possible to do that by running the engines at higher power. If she ran her engines at full cruising power, 550 hp per side, then the fuel flow would be 55 gallons per hour per side, a total of 110 gallons per hour, see attached power setting table. At that rate the fuel would all be gone after only ten hours. Of course it would make no sense for her to run her engines at full power but it is possible, depending on just what power settings she did use, to burn all the fuel in 20 hours and 13 minutes.
TIGHAR doesn't like the "1/2 HR LEFT" logged message so they came up with a strained, contrived explanation to try to get around the plain language of that message.
Further evidence is that she stopped transmitting after 2013 Z and none of the alleged later messages can be shown conclusively to have come from Earhart.
I didn't have any explanation before for why she would have used higher power setting. Elgin Long came up with an unreasonable explanation that she cruised faster at higher power settings to counter the headwind but the amount of extra fuel burned for that amount of headwind would not explain using all the fuel that quickly. But, increasing the airspeed in order to make the faulty airspeed indicator show the right number does make a reasonable explanation for using up the fuel.
And there is additional support for the damaged pitot theory, since this also explains the long takeoff at Lae, the plane barely skimming the ocean after that takeoff and the two puffs of dust behind the plane on takeoff. There is no reason the takeoff should have taken so much runway since the plane was only about 500 pounds heavier than when it took off from Oakland and that takeoff was only 1900 feet. An airspeed indicator that was reading too low would cause the pilot to accelerate to a higher speed than needed for the takeoff and this explains the long takeoff. The plane should climb at 730 feet per minute even at the maximum gross weight of 16,500 pounds and the plane was nowhere near that weight for the Lae takeoff. But to climb well the plane must be at the proper climb speed. With the airspeed indicator reading low then Earhart would hold the nose down in an attempt to see the correct climb speed on the airspeed indicator so she was actually flying at a higher speed which explains why she ended up skimming over the ocean instead climbing.
It all holds together.
gl
