Press Conference at State Department, 20 March 2012

[Don Dollinger]

Let's hope not Don otherwise this could be the most expensive wild goose chase in history. Time will tell and, if it's not AE's Electra it would be interesting to see what and whose it is. I have the ROV videos on file and, 100+ stills, they can be deleted if it turns out to be coral no problem. Where to search after that scenario though, that would be the next question, any ideas?

You misunderstood what I was trying to say so I will clarify.  I totally believe that they will find at least some of the Electra somewhere in the deep and probably very near where they believe it to be.  BUT, I dont believe that it slowly slide down the reef face strewing parts as it went.  Everything that had a right angle or a concentric circle someone would try to identify it as a particular aircraft part.  While diving I have seen shapes that in your minds eye you would say ain't no way that it could be natural, must be something encrusted in coral, and it is a natural formation.  IMHO most of what was identified as parts (other then the rope/cable/wire) are most probably natural reef formations.  The fact that I do not believe there is a Hansel and Gretal breadcrumb trail in no way negates my belief that on the bottom however deep it may be, sits a few big pieces like the engines and the substructure that will be able to be positively identified as being from AE's 10E.   

LTM,

Don

[richie conroy]

Don are u telling me the pipe object and grid in circled area, could well be coral ?

my opinion is, its man made but it could well have have come from the Norwich city an not the Electra but it deffo not coral

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

I dont believe that it slowly slide down the reef face strewing parts as it went.

Neither do I as stated in the ROV thread. I suggested it was ground up on reef and, the remains scattered down the reef slope.

Everything that had a right angle or a concentric circle someone would try to identify it as a particular aircraft part.

No, not everything just possibly the bits we have been looking into. There are some lovely spectacular bits of coral down there for sure but, not being a diver or expert on coral I'll leave that to the 'experts'.

If it had been a ditch or crash and sink I would expect to see larger bits of wreckage for sure but, that's not the hypothesis in this case. A reef landing is great but, the sand on the beaches used to be solid stone and rock and one time, that's the power of the sea, take a look at the wreck of the SS norwich City. That was built like a brick outhouse, now look at it. The sea and the reef would make short work of airframes (if that's what it is)

Also you must consider the fact that we don't have much to go on in the ROV footage, 3 mins? so, we're trying to make the most of what there is.
Scale, resolution, focus etc are all an issue but, you can only work with what you have. As I pointed out with the Nessie photo, if the original image capture device (camera) didn't capture the detail then, no amount of enhancing will add detail that isn't there.

Only time will tell and, hopefully this fall there will be a definitive yes or no, aircraft remains or no aircraft remains. But one thing is certain, it's a coral reef and, it has coral, but, what else?

All of the above IMHO, not written in stone and, time will tell ;)

Shouldn't this debate be in the ROV footage thread, I'm sure there were similar ones there ?

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

We went to see Laurie Anderson at Salisbury Playhouse many years ago. I have always been a great fan of Laurie Anderson, still am, so was pleased when she acknowledged the achievements of AE in song and music. Three pieces, this is the third, it covers the Lae to howland leg of the journey. Probably not accurate but, very moving. Hopefully she might need to add a fourth piece, we shall see.
http://youtu.be/Nn1emsTpWNk

[Chris Austin]

Jeff,
Excellent stuff - that'll be another afternoon I spend you-tubing! ;D
Try this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xzcOF_JoMw, Heather Nova "I Miss My Sky". It has been used on some video (available, on this site, somewhere, I think). Also quite moving.

[Don Dollinger]

Don are u telling me the pipe object and grid in circled area, could well be coral ?

my opinion is, its man made but it could well have have come from the Norwich city an not the Electra but it deffo not coral

Must admit, had not seen that one earlier.  Too be honest with you after about 15 pages in that forum I purposely missed quite a few.  That one would pique my interest but I would not be at all surprised if it was simply coral.  This not the right forum for this, it will be my last comment concerning this.  If they find something in those areas that was previously identified by you all, I will eat my words.  Like I stated previously, I commend you for the amount of time and effort that you all expended on that but IMHO I just think that you are reaching for the golden ring where it doesn't exist.  Lastly, it will be pretty hard to figure whether those things exist in reality anyhow because the GPS was broken and I'm thinking it would probably be quite difficult to find those exact areas again.

LTM,

Don

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Jeff,
Excellent stuff - that'll be another afternoon I spend you-tubing! ;D
Try this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xzcOF_JoMw, Heather Nova "I Miss My Sky". It has been used on some video (available, on this site, somewhere, I think). Also quite moving.

Chris, thank's for posting that link it's an astounding piece of songwriting and music. My son graduates this fall, BSc Hons Music classical guitar and is now, thanks to you, a Heather Nova fan. He is now trying to purchase the sheet music for this song at this time. Good stuff Chris!

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Too be honest with you after about 15 pages in that forum I purposely missed quite a few

Don, there's quite a lot of stills in the ROV thread and, lots of posts and wiews. It would probably not be possible to go through everyone in one sitting.
I think the main point of the thread is that there's something there on that coral reef that just doesn't belong there. Be it debris from fishing, LORAN station, colonists, wrecked ships or, just possibly, an airplane. Now, 3 mins of video footage, not much to go on but, enough to give a hint that something isn't as it should be down there. Who knows? well, at the moment, no one. Shame about not having the exact GPS co-ordinates but hopefully the sonar will pick up something that the ROV's will be able to investigate further.
I always tend to think of the glass being half full as opposed to half empty. Tighar have invested a lot of time, money and energy into this project and deserve their just rewards of solving one of the greatest mysteries of our time. I am confident they will find airplane wreckage, can't say which or whose though for sure.

[Chris Johnson]

So sorry folks (don't ban me) but was doing a you tube search ref Stonehenge and a band called "The Enid" who used to do the solstice gigs in the early 80's and they've got some footage

The Enid

OK the guy with beard and white pants may look seriously weird but is in fact a fantastic composer and player.

BTW start at about 4.30 mins for the wild thing rendition not the US Protest Song ref the Contras

[Russ Matthews]

My accappella group, the "Lilies of the Alley" used to sing an AE ballad--the one that ends, "Happy landings to you, Amelia Earhart - farewell, first lady of the air!"  Trying to remember who wrote it...

"Amelia Earhart's Last Flight" by Red River Dave McEnery.

[Gary LaPook]

I think I have found the true explanation for Nessie, it is Kingsford-Smith's other landing gear.

gl

[Chris Johnson]

 ;)

Thats some float by the other landing gear to get to Niku

;)

[Chris Austin]

Are the currents right?  ::)

[JNev]

Kingston-Smith's 'Lady Southern Cross' was a Lockheed Altair.  Whatever the currents (caught the tongue-in-cheek  ;)) it appears there'd be little similarity to an L10 gear.

Too bad - it would be interesting to at least have a look at the failure mode of that 'found' gear to understand possible failure modes for NR16020 - but I don't think a fair comparison can be drawn.  The Altair was a substantial, but lighter, single-engine bird - completely different from the later twin L10 series.

Very interesting story, though and now I'm determined to seek out more about Kingsford-Smith - very interesting man!

LTM -

[Malcolm McKay]

Kingston-Smith's 'Lady Southern Cross' was a Lockheed Altair.  Whatever the currents (caught the tongue-in-cheek  ;)) it appears there'd be little similarity to an L10 gear.

Too bad - it would be interesting to at least have a look at the failure mode of that 'found' gear to understand possible failure modes for NR16020 - but I don't think a fair comparison can be drawn.  The Altair was a substantial, but lighter, single-engine bird - completely different from the later twin L10 series.

Very interesting story, though and now I'm determined to seek out more about Kingsford-Smith - very interesting man!

LTM -

There was a stir in the press about finding the rest of the Altair 2 years ago -

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/ive-found-kingsford-smiths-plane-damien-lay/story-e6frg95x-1225913463098

As far as I know nothing came of it - like most of these hunt the missing aviator things, 99% speculation 1% publicity.  ;)