Retired Pilot Believes He’s Found Amelia Earhart’s Plane
Nearly nine decades after the mysterious disappearance of famed aviator Amelia Earhart, a veteran pilot now believes he may have uncovered a long-lost piece of aviation history — using nothing more than satellite imagery.
Justin Myers, a pilot with nearly 25 years of flying experience, says he has identified what could be the wreckage of Earhart’s aircraft while examining images on Google Earth. The potential discovery was made on Nikumaroro, a remote island long suspected by researchers to be tied to Earhart’s ill-fated final journey aboard her Lockheed 10-E Electra.
Myers’ fascination with the case was sparked after watching a documentary about Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, who both vanished in 1937 during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe. From there, he began analyzing satellite images, approaching the mystery from the perspective of a pilot facing a dire situation.
“I was just putting myself in Amelia and Fred’s shoes,” he said in an interview with Popular Mechanics.
Drawing on his own flight experience, Myers explained how he evaluated possible emergency landing scenarios. He studied terrain that would be suitable for a forced landing by a twin-engine aircraft running low on fuel — ultimately focusing on a flat stretch of Nikumaroro.
There, he identified a dark object measuring approximately 39 feet — a striking match to the known length of Earhart’s aircraft. Myers says further inspection revealed what could be additional debris nearby, possibly including engine components.
“The bottom line is from my interests from a child in vintage aircraft and air crash investigation, I can say that is what was once a 12-metre, 2-engine vintage aircraft,” Myers told PopMech. “What I can’t say is that is definitely Amelia’s Electra.”
The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence that continues to point toward Nikumaroro as a key location in solving one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.
In 2025, researchers from Purdue University reignited interest in the case after identifying what they described as “very strong” evidence in a 1938 aerial photograph. The image revealed a metallic anomaly in a lagoon on the island — dubbed the “Taraia Object” — which may be connected to Earhart’s missing plane.
A research team had planned an expedition to the island to investigate further, but that mission has now been delayed until 2026.
“My interest started after watching a documentary on the National Geographic Channel,” Myers said. “It was the next day when curiosity about Nikumaroro Island took me to looking on Google Earth.”
Previous findings have also fueled the theory. According to Biography.com, investigators have uncovered artifacts on the island including improvised tools, fragments of clothing, aluminum panels, and even a piece of Plexiglas matching the curvature of an Electra window.
In a detailed blog post, Myers described the moment he first spotted the unusual formation.
“I picked an area which would probably have been what I thought to be best considering the circumstances. I zoomed in and there was a long sandy-looking shape. […] I measured the sandy section, which was over 50ft long, looked up the specifications of the Electra, and that measured 39ft. I laughed and thought ‘What do you think you are doing?’”
“However, to the left of the sandy section that had been eroded by the weather over many years was a dark-coloured, perfectly straight object. I used the measuring tool on Google Earth and to my surprise and mild little shiver it measured approximately 39 ft,” he added.
“It looked man-made,” Myers continued. “It looked like a section of aircraft fuselage, that was remarkable by itself, let alone the possibility it was Electra 10E NR16020, even though the measurements looked the same.”
While definitive proof remains elusive, Myers’ findings are likely to intensify calls for renewed investigation — and could bring the world one step closer to finally solving the enduring mystery of Amelia Earhart’s disappearance.