Adventure

Adventure is what happens when things go wrong.

So saith Ric Gillespie back in 1998 on the original Earhart Forum, when someone suggested that TIGHAR might use an old PBY as a means of getting to Nikumaroro for the next expedition. "Have you ever considered a PBY for your adventures [and] explorations?"

Let me correct an understandable misconception. I am not an adventurer, nor am I an explorer. We have a saying at TIGHAR. Adventure is what happens when things go wrong. We NEVER go looking for adventure. We do our best to avoid it. I don't think anybody does any real exploring any more, except for NASA and people who go to ocean depths never before visited.

If I had to put a label on what we do, I'd say that we are historians.