Customer Reviews

Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

`The wing tips wobbled slightly, and suddenly the plane began veering to the left with increasing speed...it swung around and tilted with its right wing tip almost almost scraping the mat. The right landing gear suddenly collapsed, followed shortly by the left gear, and the plane slid on its belly. A shower of sparks spurted from the airplane...' Honolulu, March 1937, and Amelia Earhart's plane Electra has just crashed while attempting to take off on a test flight. The crash was bad news for the famous American woman aviator and her team: it meant they had to approach their financial backers for more funds to repair the plane if Earhart was to fly around the world. They got the money, of course, but worse was to come: Earhart and her navigator disappeared four months later on July 2, 1937, on the longest stretch of their epic trans-global flight. Since then what exactly happened to the Electra and its occupants has been a mystery. One of the stranger rumours have been that Earhart and her navigator were captured and spirited away by the Japanese, who had rather frosty relations with America in the days before Pearl Harbour and World War 2. But here the authors claim to solve the mystery: according to their reckoning, and backed up with a swag of maps, radio transmissions and estimates, they say the Electra simply ran out of fuel somewhere around their destination of Howland Island, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The plane (and the remains of its occupants) are lying 17,000 feet below the water somewhere around the tiny island. The mystery, of course, is why did it happen? Long-distance flying was extremely dangerous in those days, but it wasn't complete guesswork: Earhart had the latest and best radio, planned her flights with great care and had support and encouragement from the highest levels. However, several factors - minor on their own - all contributed to the disaster that took place. The Electra's radio equipment was so new it didn't have an accompanying instruction manual. Navigator Fred Noonan was relying on a map which showed Howland Island six miles west of where it really was. The wind was slightly stronger than Earhart thought it was, thus pushing her further away from the right direction. There was a US Navy vessel near the island, but radio contact between it and Earhart was sporadic, and they never saw each other. The book is very detailed, and contains a lot of technical information. There is much talk about mile radius, azimuth and radio frequencies. The authors do a sterling job of explaining the technical stuff where necessary while narrating an exciting tale. One of the later chapters examines the `area of uncertainty' the Electra had to grapple with on its last flight: the agonising calculations that Noonan would have performed in an effort to determine where the Electra was, and where Howland Island was. The Electra is still at the bottom of the ocean somewhere. Despite the careful research, the mystery of Earhart's last flight won't fully be solved until the plane is found - as with our own Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his Lady Southern Cross. `Is the emergency equipment still there? Are there any signs of remains? There are dozens of questions that can be answered only be recovering the plane,' the authors conclude.

After so many bizzare conspiracy theories, it was a pleasure to read a completely sane book on the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. The authors have done a huge amount of original research, reconstructing Earhart's last flight in excruciating (sometimes tedious) detail. Their new information on the poor human engineering of the Electra's radio gear fills in the last gap in our understanding of why Earhart didn't find Howland Island. The Long's analysis of where the Electra splashed due to fuel exhaustion is somewhat more speculative than the earlier part of the book due to the few details available on Fred Noonan's navigation methods, but it is still the best analysis published to date. I do wish that the book had been better edited.

Very reminiscent of Gerald Posner's 'Case Closed' this book shows that an apparently unanswerable question can be answered if informed knowledge is brought to bear with clear logic and meticulous research. A fascinating and 'factual' analysis of the doomed aviatrix' last mission and a plausible explanation for the end. The Longs have written what must be considered the 'definitive' book on this undying mystery.

I found the account of Earhart's last trip quite satisfying. It is well-researched (50 pages of appendices and footnotes) and believable. Some comparisons can be made to McLean's Young Men and Fire (1995). In both, I found some scenes and ideas riveting, but the line upon line of times, dates, positions, etc. became tedious in The Mystery Solved (I became similarly tired of wind directions, wind speeds, drafts, etc. in Young Men). I had to read some of the messages transmitted by Earhart two or three times to figure them out (Hello Stop I will not be able to land Stop . . ). As a first-time reader of the ill-fated trip, I had no background knowledge of the flight or of any of the so-called outlandish theories as to the reasons for the Electra's disappearance, so I began the read with an open mind.

I would recommend the 250-page book to anyone at all interested in the flight. I gobbled it up actually, reading it in 7 or 8 hours. I found myself almost gnashing my teeth when I learned of the mistakes that could have been so easily prevented. For example, minutes before the takeoff for Howland Island, Amelia asked Bulfour (a radio expert in Lae, New Guinea) to accompany them. He declined because it was so "last minute." Had she a radio expert on this final leg, the round-the- world flight would had been successful. Like so many explorers and adventurers (the 1995 Everest Team, for example) seemingly inconsequential tasks, requests and messages could have prevented the tragic outcomes.

James R. Moorin's review of this book is to be received with caution. He consistantly mispells Earhart. He complains that George Putnam, Earhart's husband was "never well-described as a human being". Certainly we can all assume he was a human being without the Long's having to tell us. The focus of the book is on her and her last flight, not her husband!

Morrin says there is no mention in the book that Paul Mantz was removed as technical advisor, but indeed there is on page 113.

Morrin says the Long's faulted no-one, but indeed they fault the Coast Guard on its misinterpretation of the radio transmitting and receiving schedule on page 208 and other pages.

As a long-time fan of Earheart, I snapped up this book, but confess to some disappointment. I did find that this book contained a more detailed analysis of the last flight than any I had previously read, and award one extra star for the work involved. The book is, however, too one-sided - a socratic analysis it is not. Moreover, the information it contains is not presented in a straightforward, analytical fashion at all, and at times the series of events it describes is difficult to follow. The authors have taken the notion "speak well of the dead" too far - Amelia is described as the perfect flyer, her husband (and his motives and ambitions) is never well-described as a human being. For example, in the Honolulu crash, "pilot error" is never even hinted at, and is a reasonable possibility. Nor is there any commentary about the Putnam/Earheart's termination of her technical advisor following the crash. The most revealing part of the book - concerning the phenomenally stupid radio communication protocol established by Putnam/Earheart - is not even clearly set forth - one has to read several inter-linking chapters to understand the breadth of the problem. Had the authors attempted to be more analytical about the data, had they chose to be bolder about criticism (NO ONE is criticized in the book), this would be a better product. Still, in all, for Earheart fans, this is a must for your collection.

This fine book by Elgin Long and his wife Marie is by far the most sensible and logical of all the works on this great mystery. It starts with the story of the last leg of her flight from Lae, New Guinea, to tiny Howland Island, a speck in the vast Pacific. It then goes back to trace the origins of the flight, the many personalities involved and the varied possible causes for the tragic loss of this great Aviator. As a pilot I found the navigational detail very useful although some may find it tedious.

Mr. Long is currently working with Nauticos Corp. conducting a deep sea search for the Earhart plane. Filmmaker James Cameron (Titanic) is also involved in this project. I personally think that the plane will be found someday. This outstanding work belongs on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in the Earhart mystery.

The Wreck Hunters: Dive to the Wreck of the USS Bass

Rather than reach a conclusion which flows logically from the evidence, the authors began where most researchers hope to end. As they openly state, "We have known for twenty-five years that the solution to the Earhart mystery lies on the ocean floor under 17,000 feet of water." For the Longs there can be no other explanation for why no one heard radio transmissions from the Earhart airplane after 08:43 local time. The authors' certainty that they knew the answer before they began their investigation allowed them to construct a perfect circle of argument. The available data is interpreted or altered to support the correct answer, contradictory evidence is ignored, and the manipulated data are then stated as fact to prove the original conclusion. Until someone finds conclusive evidence that the airplane ended up somewhere else, the possibility that Earhart and Noonan perished at sea remains a viable and certainly highly intuitive hypothesis. Whether or not it can be tested economically would seem to depend entirely upon how narrowly the search area can be reasonably constrained. Regrettably, the Longs' book has merely demonstrated the need for greater scientific rigor in that endeavor.

I just finished reading Elgen and Marie Long's book "Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved". It was difficult to put down, and was easily read in about 2 or 3 sessions. For some time now I have been an advocate of this "crash and sink" theory simply because it makes the most sense when weighed against the known and proven evidence. This book finally brings it all together in an exhaustive, entertaining format that is well-written and clearly full of academic legitimacy. I found myself with the feeling of actually being along for the ride in 1937 on several occasions while reading. Whether you are an Earhart enthusiast or just curious to learn more following the release of "Amelia" with Hillary Swank, this is an absolute must read.

I'VE READ ABOUT TWENTY BOOKS ABOUT EARHART'S DISAPPEARANCE AND THIS IS THE BEST BOOK BY FAR! IF YOU ONLY READ ONE BOOK ABOUT AMELIA EARHART AND FRED NOONAN THIS IS THE ONE TO BUY.