"We are on the line 157 337"

These are the last words received from Earhart and Noonan between 2013 GMT and 2025 GMT; the Carey diary says that Earhart was "still on air" at 2030 GMT.

This is a photostat of the entry in the "rough log" preserved by Leo G. Bellarts.

The crucial information here is: "We are on the line 157 337. Will repeat the message. We will repeat this on 6210 kcs. Wait. We are running [on] line [north and south]."

Earhart indicates here that she is switching from her nighttime frequency (3105 kcs) to her daytime frequency (6210 kcs). No further messages were received from the aircraft. "Due to the skip characteristics of 6210 Kilocycles, Earhart’s decision to switch to that frequency effectively shuts off any further reception by Itasca. Conclusion: The Coast Guard’s official position that the Earhart flight ran out of fuel and crashed at sea shortly after the final transmission heard by the Itasca is not supported by the facts" ("Log Jam," TIGHAR Tracks 12:2-3, 1996).

The most probable explanation of why Earhart and Noonan were flying on the compass headings of 157 degrees and 337 degrees is that Noonan had calculated a line of position at sunrise.

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Earhart's Tone of Voice

Ric Gillespie, AESF, 4 February 2000.

We do not have a copy of the tape, just the transcript. This is what Bellarts told Long in 1973 about the way Earhart sounded:

"Ah, actually her voice...we could here her voice just as easy as I'm hearing yours right now and I'm deaf in one ear now. But I'll tell you, you could hear her voice all over the shack and even outside the shack. you know, real loud and clear. I mean it. She was a woman. We heard her quite a few times, you know, but that last one, I'm telling you, it sounded as if she would have broken out in a scream, it would have sounded normal. She was just about ready to break into tears and go into hysterics. That's exactly the way I'd describe her voice now. I'll never forget it."

Related material

• "The Radio Logs of the USCG Itasca: Analysis of the 0843 Message."
• "Last Words."
• "What is the significance of Earhart's statement, 'We are on the line 157 337'?"
• "Log Jam."
• "Visualizing the 337-157 LOP."
• "Midpoint to Vicinity of Howland."
• "At Howland Island: 1415GMT to 1930GMT."
• "The Airplane Returns to Earth."
• Offset method of celestial navigation.
• Air Navigation: State of the Art in 1937