Amelia Earhart Addresses Aviation Explorers

by Jim Bildilli

Members of the Aviation Explorer Base at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2014, July 28 – August 3, were treated to a presentation by Amelia Earhart on her around-the-globe flight. Not to be confused with the Amelia of the 1930s, Amelia Rose Earhart completed her 24,300-mile flight on July 11, 2014 by landing in Oakland, California, where she departed on June 26, 2014.

The Explorers listened and watched intently as Earhart explained the details and pictures taken during the journey, which included 17 stops and over 108 hours of flying. Accompanied by her copilot, Shane Jordon, the trip was made in a Pilatus PC-12 NG that was modified to include an additional 200-gallon fuel tank located in the aft passenger compartment, giving her a full 600 gallons of useable fuel. Earhart is now in the record books as the youngest female pilot to circumnavigate the earth in a single-engine aircraft.

Earhart’s flight was across the U.S., then south to the Caribbean, then on to Brazil, across the Atlantic Ocean and the African Continent, and continued on to the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Islands and Hawaii, with the final leg returning to Oakland. Although not exactly the same route that her namesake took in 1937, she tried to emulate the original flight as closely as possible considering the current state of world affairs.

Earhart told the Explorers that it all started as a result of people asking her if she flew when introducing herself as Amelia Earhart. The idea of learning to fly gained momentum and she soon found herself taking flying lessons in a Cessna 172 in 2004. Like most aviators, her flying lessons were directly tied to the amount of money she saved to pay for them. She obtained her Private Pilot Certificate and again, when the funds were available, she obtained her Instrument Rating. Of course, all of this was done in her “spare” time as a traffic and weather reporter with an NBC affiliate in Denver, Colorado. She worked some “odd” hours in order to fit in her flying lessons.

The idea of an around-the-world flight started to gain momentum in her mind, but she had no idea where to start and how it would be funded. To make it become a reality, she started calling on businesses and organizations for sponsorships. Items such as an aircraft, fuel, weather services and the general logistics of the concept were mind boggling, but eventually people and companies stepped forward.

In 2013, Earhart attended AirVenture and made public her intentions to make the flight. She also received the “Amelia Earhart Pioneering Achievement Award,” given by the Atchison Kansas Chamber of Commerce for women who carry on the late Amelia Earhart’s spirit. It wasn’t until late 2013 that Earhart found out that she was not a direct descendant of the original Amelia Earhart. Although disappointed and feeling that she had let her sponsors down, she soon found out that it didn’t really matter to them and that they still wanted to continue their support.

Earhart is an active member of the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum and has started the “Fly With Amelia Foundation.” The foundation grants flight scholarships to boys and girls ages 16-18.

Earhart announced the 2014 scholarship recipients while circling over Howland Island via Twitter. Howland Island was the intended landing site of Amelia Mary Earhart in 1937 when she and her copilot, Fred Noonan, vanished.

Amelia Rose Earhart can be reached on Facebook, Twitter and her website, www.flywithamelia.org.

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