Enjoying the "After Party" at the Howland Island Lighthouse
5 years 1 month ago #15607
by jer029
John Rogers
Webmaster
Ok...of course in reality Amelia never made it to Howland Island, which make the party all the more special. Also, the lighthouse at Howland was really not an appropriate location for a party because it was very small and there probably wasn't anyone they wanted to party with. Also...after flying for 10-13 hours, they were probably hoping to clean up a bit, get some real food, and a long-deserved rest for the night.
Still - that won't stop Larry and I from enjoying our success at making it to Howland Island. I'll add some additional pictures as I explore the island before leaving to complete the final legs of this adventure.
Like Larry, I experienced rain as I left Lae, and for quite a while as I climbed quickly to get over the mountains near the Lae airport in order to stay on the heading. After that it was smooth sailing, although I found myself "cheating" a bit at least 3 times by checking the SPA site's active flight map and adjusting my heading to say relatively close to the flight-line depicted there, and this was after correcting my wind-related heading correction several times also.
Even though we - or at least I, ended up with a night arrival at Howland, I'm guessing that Earhart scheduled her flight for a daylight landing at Howland. Even with that in her favor. I would not be surprised that her plane ended up running out of fuel in deep water before they might have even found a safe place to ditch near any land. I'm inspired to do more research into Earhart's final flight, but from my initial planning for this flight tour with Larry, I didn't find any indication that their last transmission indicated that they were near an island - only that they were low on fuel and were expecting to ditch the aircraft. If this was the case, then I suspect that their plane is very deep - and if they escaped drowning with it, then they drowned later and their bodies will never be found. I do think that the plane will eventually be found as modern technology is applied to those still investigating this. That will eventually solve part, if not all of this historic and tragic mystery.
This tour...building up to this particular leg of the flight, was very interesting for me - and I intentionally flew the entire leg at actual simulator speed to get the actual feel for what they endured, however I actually engaged in many other daily activities while periodically checking in on the flight deck. Yikes...what a terrible final day they must have had - culminating in a final challenge that neither was likely up to handle. I hope that other pilots enjoy this tour and the historical aspects of it as much as I have been. Now, I just have a couple more legs left before the real party can begin.
Happy flying,
John
Still - that won't stop Larry and I from enjoying our success at making it to Howland Island. I'll add some additional pictures as I explore the island before leaving to complete the final legs of this adventure.
Like Larry, I experienced rain as I left Lae, and for quite a while as I climbed quickly to get over the mountains near the Lae airport in order to stay on the heading. After that it was smooth sailing, although I found myself "cheating" a bit at least 3 times by checking the SPA site's active flight map and adjusting my heading to say relatively close to the flight-line depicted there, and this was after correcting my wind-related heading correction several times also.
Even though we - or at least I, ended up with a night arrival at Howland, I'm guessing that Earhart scheduled her flight for a daylight landing at Howland. Even with that in her favor. I would not be surprised that her plane ended up running out of fuel in deep water before they might have even found a safe place to ditch near any land. I'm inspired to do more research into Earhart's final flight, but from my initial planning for this flight tour with Larry, I didn't find any indication that their last transmission indicated that they were near an island - only that they were low on fuel and were expecting to ditch the aircraft. If this was the case, then I suspect that their plane is very deep - and if they escaped drowning with it, then they drowned later and their bodies will never be found. I do think that the plane will eventually be found as modern technology is applied to those still investigating this. That will eventually solve part, if not all of this historic and tragic mystery.
This tour...building up to this particular leg of the flight, was very interesting for me - and I intentionally flew the entire leg at actual simulator speed to get the actual feel for what they endured, however I actually engaged in many other daily activities while periodically checking in on the flight deck. Yikes...what a terrible final day they must have had - culminating in a final challenge that neither was likely up to handle. I hope that other pilots enjoy this tour and the historical aspects of it as much as I have been. Now, I just have a couple more legs left before the real party can begin.
Happy flying,
John
John Rogers
Webmaster
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