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Author Topic: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland  (Read 416230 times)

John Ousterhout

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #75 on: February 07, 2012, 07:20:50 PM »

http://tighar.org/wiki/Life_raft

Sorry, no life raft on board.  The above link should help sort out the confusion.
This is the first time I've heard of kites in relation to the flight.  Where did you hear that?
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richie conroy

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #76 on: February 07, 2012, 07:28:17 PM »



http://www.kansas.com/2009/10/22/1022883/historical-photos-of-amelia-earhart.html

an yes they were added later due to crash few month's earlier, i.e Amelia was a liability to say the least 
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richie conroy

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #77 on: February 07, 2012, 07:33:11 PM »

an it shouldn't NO, it says photograph date 1ST JULY 1937

but look at tail i think thats of vega but deffo not of L10 - e
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Gary LaPook

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #78 on: February 07, 2012, 09:29:14 PM »

http://tighar.org/wiki/Life_raft

Sorry, no life raft on board.  The above link should help sort out the confusion.
This is the first time I've heard of kites in relation to the flight.  Where did you hear that?
I'm not sure that is definitive. The Luke inventory does supply some evidence but it is not conclusive as to what was loaded aboard several months later in California. And there is the photo posted above with Earhart and Putnam holding the kites standing in front of the Electra. No need for the kites if no life raft.

gl
« Last Edit: February 08, 2012, 02:23:26 AM by Gary LaPook »
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Chris Johnson

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #79 on: February 08, 2012, 03:28:08 AM »

Gary,

i've been thinking of the Lady be good as well.  Few differences in my opinion

1. Air crew trained in bail out and workin g to a procedure
2. Bigger chance of rescue as the air crew were important to the allies, planes can be re made
3. More resources put into the rescue of air crews
4. Had rafts for a bail out over the sea

What is interesting in what is a heroic but eventualy sad story is that they used the silk canopies as shelter and markers, something AE/FN failed to do on Gardner.
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John Ousterhout

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #80 on: February 08, 2012, 06:50:01 AM »

Any idea why AE/GP are holding two different styles of kite?  Would an emergency kit contain both?
I agree that the Luke inventory isn't to be confused with what was actually on board the Lae-Howland flight.  What are some reasons a life raft might not be carried on a Hawaii-Howland flight, but would be carried on a Lae-Howland flight?
Cheers,
JohnO
 
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #81 on: February 08, 2012, 07:58:44 AM »

And there is the photo posted above with Earhart and Putnam holding the kites standing in front of the Electra.

It's not hard to date that photo.  The only other photos of the Electra with spinners on the propellers date from late February/early March during preparations for the first world flight attempt.  Generally speaking, preparations for the first attempt were more elaborate than for the second attempt and seem to have been done mostly to generate publicity.  Lots of photo ops.  Preparations for the second attempt were kept very quiet until they got to Miami.
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Tom Swearengen

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #82 on: February 08, 2012, 08:56:09 AM »

Question?---If YOU were over open ocean, would you parachute out, or ditch the plane. YOU may or may not sink in either case. And------according to the crew of the Indianapolis in 1945, there are sharks out there. And around Nikumaroro. So, that leads to the question. Obviously if she wasnt going to be able to ditch the plane, bail out. Oh --lets see---either crawl over the fuselege tanks and out the door, or up through the roof hatch. If the plane had any airspeed, I dont think she would make it out without injury. So, to me that make the parachute thing a mute point. She would set it down somewhere.
Tom
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Harry Howe, Jr.

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #83 on: February 08, 2012, 10:48:03 AM »


Tom
The neat thing about opinions, everyone has one!  I agree with you.

There is no way in the world that I would jump out of the Electra, going 150 mph, thru a hatch over my head nor out the door.  No way, Jose.   I'd ride that baby down to, hopefully, a soft uneventful landing and get out as quickly as I possibly could, raft and kites or no raft and kites.

But then, I'm not AE.
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Gary LaPook

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #84 on: February 08, 2012, 10:55:12 AM »

Question?---If YOU were over open ocean, would you parachute out, or ditch the plane. YOU may or may not sink in either case. And------according to the crew of the Indianapolis in 1945, there are sharks out there. And around Nikumaroro. So, that leads to the question. Obviously if she wasnt going to be able to ditch the plane, bail out. Oh --lets see---either crawl over the fuselege tanks and out the door, or up through the roof hatch. If the plane had any airspeed, I dont think she would make it out without injury. So, to me that make the parachute thing a mute point. She would set it down somewhere.
Tom
When ya gotta go, ya gotta go, ya find a way to get out of the plane, ask all the guys who managed to do this during the war and others. There are more than 10,000 members of the Caterpiller Club. You slow the plane down to near stall speed to minimize the aerodynamic forces on the doors, push them open and leave. The autopilot holds the plane steady even after both engines flame out and the elevator trim tab maintains the slow airspeed. I've made about 10 jumps from planes with just normal doors, you can push them open against the wind stream. The overhead hatch would be even easier to open since it would not be pushed against the wind stream. Of course there are times when you can't get out such as after a structural failure, losing a wing, causing the plane to spin creating so many G's that you can't make it to the door but no reason to expect such a problem with the Electra. And the sharks are going to be there anyway no matter how you get down.

gl
« Last Edit: February 08, 2012, 06:31:42 PM by Gary LaPook »
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Harry Howe, Jr.

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #85 on: February 08, 2012, 11:14:07 AM »


Gary
I value your opinions greatly and you always express them eloquently (now comes the "however")  however, even though at a younger age (much younger, hehe) I wanted to learn how to jump out of a moving airplane, I got over it!

Like pilot Sullenberg (Sully) said to the NYC Controller, "We'll be in the Hudson", my communication would sound like this   "New York Control, 704 Mike Victor, I'll be in the drink." LOL
No Worries Mates
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #86 on: February 08, 2012, 11:34:54 AM »

Think about this:
For most of that 2,500 mile flight you're over parts of the Pacific that get very little ship traffic and, in 1937, no air traffic.  (On all of our nine voyages to Nikumaroro, only ONCE have we encountered another ship at sea once we got out of immediate Hawaiian, Fijian, or Samoan waters - and that was a possible pirate.) There was no plan for either Ontario or Itasca to conduct any kind search.  In other words, just as with Earhart's other ocean flights, if you go down at sea - either by ditching or by parachute, whether you have a life raft or not - your chances of rescue are effectively nil. What sense does it make to carry the weight of rafts or parachutes?  You are toast.  Bring some jam.  It's lighter.
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Alfred Hendrickson

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #87 on: February 08, 2012, 02:17:37 PM »

You are toast.  Bring some jam.  It's lighter.

 :D
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Harry Howe, Jr.

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #88 on: February 08, 2012, 02:33:58 PM »


Ric
Well said, and meaningful coming from someone that has been in that area of the Pacific.
Must be Jelly, cause Jam don't shake like that!  LOL
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Irvine John Donald

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Re: Did Earhart carry parachutes on the flight to Howland
« Reply #89 on: February 08, 2012, 07:32:20 PM »

I would like to remind everyone that whether or not AE carried rafts, kites or parachutes, she died, and the TIGHAR hypothesis suggests it was after she landed on Gardner which had nothing to do with kites, rafts or chutes.  That wasn't the plan when she left Lae.  I think we all agree that part of the reason her plans didn't work was poor planning.  What safety gear might/should she have carried?  Rafts, chutes, kites?  Sure but by landing on Gardner she could have had a car in the Electra for all the good it or the other items would have done.  But you carry safety gear "just in case". If you have a chute and the plane has trouble then you have a choice. No chute and you have no choice.

Let's go back to the concept of carrying a parachute. It's for safety. She wasn't going to be skydiving for her fans.

If she had parachutes delivered to Port Darwin then why would she go to that trouble and then leave them at Lau?  Ship them home from Lae? She was headed that way already!  She could have charged herself shipping and set a new record for parcel delivery from Lae.

Don't start with weight again. We covered that already and said the parachutes didn't make any significant difference.

What good reason can be given for dropping them at Lae after carrying for one trip from Port Darwin? 

IMHO. There was no good reason to unload them at Lae. Unwillingness to use them, lack of training, not wanting to jump at night.  It doesn't matter. I think we are all agreed she had them on the Electra when she left Port Darwin.  You guys are honestly trying to suggest that after all the trouble of getting them shipped to Port Darwin (requiring logistics) asking for them immediately on landing, that she then decided, after one short trip to Lae, with the longest leg of the trip right in front of her, that she said "gee. Don't know why I bothered with these as I (fill in your favorite reason for leaving them). I will leave them here."

You guys have to stop thinking about what you would or wouldn't do and ask what was AE doing?  Put yourself in her shoes.  Ask what is "most likely"?

Ric, if it doesn't make sense to haul that weight around then why did she?  And only for one short leg of the trip.  That's the mystery.  Did she bail out somewhere?  Did she land at Gardner and forget about them because she thought the Electra was safe on the reef and help would arrive soon?  Did she use them to bury poor FN with a parachute as his burial shroud and didn't think to use them for signalling?  Did FN bail out and left her to navigate herself?  It's not enough to say it doesn't make sense without then saying what might make sense. As always we will likely never know but IF she had parachutes on that island and a remnant remains, then it might be another piece to the puzzle. And its not about if she woulda, coulda, shoulda used them, just did she have them.
Respectfully Submitted;

Irv
 
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