Chasing Earhart

“This wasn’t about a flight. This really was about what Amelia worked so hard to teach. Amelia didn’t fly and do these things to say ‘look what I can do’. She did it to say ‘look what you can do’.” The moments you hear at the opening of tonight's episode, took place 21 years ago on what was the 60th anniversary of Amelia Earhart’s circumnavigation attempt around the world. Project guest Linda Finc...

“I think Amelia is more well known than possibly even Lindberg. Amelia is just part of the psyche of the public. She was a really positive role model doing some amazing things; certainly laying it all out there on the line. The mystery of the disappearance adds to her story." Considered by many to be a purist when it comes to locating Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E, Dana Timmer has been an...

"A lot of it was just imagining myself in Earhart’s shoes on Nikumaroro and thinking about what she’d do." Our first three-peat on the podcast, Dr. Tom King formally of TIGHAR returns for a different kind of discussion on his third sit down with us. Dr. King's latest novel, "Amelia Earhart Unrescued" is a prequel to his earlier novel "13 Bones" and takes a unique approach in telling the story of t...

"I think her story resonates with anybody who’s ever been told no they can’t do something and maybe have been frustrated with that answer. There’s this little girl who really pushed her boundaries and whether or not she was courageous or foolhardy I think at the end of the day the courageousness is what we focus on. Her story inspires readers to say “Maybe I can try something”. Project guest Dr. M...

Following the disappearance of aviation icons Amelia Earhart, Fred Noonan and their Lockheed Electra 10E in 1937, the world speculates on their fate; creating multiple theories to explain their vanishing over the Pacific Ocean. In 2018, documentarian Chris Williamson begins an investigation over a decade in the making. Shortly after his investigation begins, he soon finds there’s much more to this...

“Amelia Earhart was an explorer and an adventurer who took risks and someone who was doing so in a time where it may not have been attractive or easy to do something like that as a woman. I kind of see somebody who doesn’t really care what the status quo is and is doing whatever the hell she wants anyway.” Emily Calandrelli is a lot of things. A speaker, an author a STEM advocate and a scientist....

“The defiant human spirit is something that we all have the potential to tap into and that’s what Amelia had; she had this defiant spirit and the defiant spirit is saying “ I’m not gonna let life beat me; I’m gonna go out and live fully and fearlessly”. It’s about getting out there and doing the things that ignite you.” Janine Shepherd is a living, breathing miracle. A former cross-country ski cha...

“I think for women she was a symbol of freedom and independence and her fame made her larger than life. Her story and her disappearance live on as the ultimate historical mystery. That idea keeps her alive in people’s minds in a way that a lot of figures from history aren’t.” Of all the missing persons cases in history, perhaps no other has captured the world like that of Amelia Earhart & Fred...

“She was one of those first women to push through those mail dominate field barriers; she inspired women to go into these male-dominated fields, go into aviation. She was a big start in this whole idea; getting into schools and telling her story. She continues to have that impact on girls. This is something that you can do if you really want it”. Back in the 1930’s when women were breaking through...

“There’s no doubt in my mind that because of the status that Earhart had in her lifetime; she opened people’s minds. People that probably had never had anyone encourage them to have a career outside of the home. She was able to do that for women. People still pick up on that love she had for empowering other women. This is why we get two-year-old girls in the archives with pilot’s outfits who alre...

“I think the fact that she along with the other women had the foresight to put together a group of women that would let the world know that women fly and let them know what women can do. I think she’ll go down in history forever for having done that.” I can’t stress this enough. Bee Haydu is a legend. Over ten years ago when doing pre-research for what would become Chasing Earhart, Bee’s story cam...

“Sally Ride once said, “you can’t be what you can’t see”. Amelia and women of that era got up in an airplane and flew and landed and got out and people went “wow that’s a girl!” It’s the same with Shaesta stepping out of the airplane and people asking, “where’s the pilot?” You just need to make it known that you really can be anything you want to be if you work hard.” Jill Meyers has made a career...

"You’re not gonna be happy when you know what really happened to her. It’s not going to feel better; knowing she crashed in the ocean or got captured and tortured by the Japanese. I know it feels bad now that it’s a mystery but half the solutions this mystery has are terrible. Be prepared for a sad, sad ending to this story. " David Avallone is never shy about expressing his feelings. Considered b...

“That’s where I first had that connection where I had read about Amelia Earhart; that moment was when I realized the opportunity she gave to a lot of women and the empowerment that she was able to give a lot of women to follow their dreams in STEM.” A member of Forbes prestigious “30 under 30” Paige Kasselen has spent her career in uncharted waters. At 22 years old, Paige made worldwide headlines...

“When you find the airplane; no matter where it is. You now have an obligation to explain what happened. How did it get there and to explain the last moments of Amelia Earhart; her story is unfinished at this point, and we need to finish it.” Part of our original 25, project guest Tom Dettweiler has lived a life on the ocean. Taking part in some of the biggest nautical finds in history, including...

"It seems that Japan would never admit to their role in the capture of Amelia Earhart. The records are gone; you're not gonna find them" ​Les Kinney has been researching the Amelia Earhart case for over a decade. Part of what is now known as our original twenty-five, Les has been on the Chasing Earhart radar equally as long. After finding what is now known in the public as the Jaluiet dock photo i...

In 1926, there were countless ways to die in an airplane. Propeller blades snapped and broke, and planes went down. Wings failed, folding backward or tearing away completely. Control sticks got stuck, sending airships hurtling toward crowds or hangars. And all too often, engines just stopped in mid-flight, forcing pilots to scan the ground below for a farmer’s field or a cow pasture—anyplace where...

If you’ve been following the Amelia Earhart case at all in the past thirty years you will know the name Ric Gillespie. A little over one year ago we spoke with Ric for a little over two hours about the work that TIGHAR had done to that point on the island if Nikumaroro. It was a big show for us back then as we started out the podcast. Over the course of the last year a lot of developments have bee...

The said it couldn't be done. They were wrong. "Chasing Earhart: The Discussion Panel" was a resounding success! From those in attendance to the over 21,000 of you that watched it online via YouTube live, you were part of the largest discussion panel on the life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart of all time. Now relive that day in episode fifty-two of the Chasing Earhart podcast! Season two of t...

What really happened to Amelia Earhart? Since Earhart and her navigator disappeared during their around-the-world flight attempt in 1937, the world has searched in vain for an answer to this question. The culmination of thirteen years of research into this tantalizing mystery, The Earhart Enigma: Retracing Amelia's Last Flight brings to life Earhart's final days in an attempt to reconstruct what e...

Just seven days out from "Chasing Earhart: The Discussion Panel" Chris Williamson sits down with Kaye McIntyre to discuss next weeks' landmark event, the Amelia Earhart disappearance case and his personal thoughts on the Chasing Earhart project thus far.

A special announcement from Chris Williamson & Chasing Earhart.

“Hopefully I can motivate kids to go out and try new things. Here I am at sixty-three, in a single engine aircraft, flying around the world. You can go out and do something amazing, too.” -Brian Lloyd ​Brian Lloyd is the first solo aviator to complete the historic Earhart equatorial route. Spirit has endured fierce winds, blasting sandstorms, and severe tropical weather along the equator. It has n...

Sarah Stewart Taylor is a fiction writer and journalist who lives with her family on a farm in Vermont. Her non-fiction has been published in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and many other publications. She is the author of the Sweeney St. George mystery series, from St. Martin’s Minotaur. The first book in the series, O’ Artful Death, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel....

Michele Albion was raised in Maine and was a history nerd from a very young age. Her first job, at fourteen, was as a docent at a 1754 fort in Augusta called Fort Western. She later worked at the Maine State Museum and attended college at the University of Maine. While earning her Master’s Degree in Museum Studies at The George Washington University, she worked in the curatorial department of the...