Earhart is (possibly) where we thought she was all along

I’ll pass on the video.

For all it’s worth, I’d rather get my basset’s insights on the topic.  🙂

probably equally informed and less biased.  🙂

Also, that way the group won’t make money off a YouTube hit.

Here is some recent footage of Ric Gillespie passing judgement on Tony Romeo’s claims regarding his Deep Vision sonar scan being the wreck of Amelia Earharts Lockheed Electra.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OSIrQBGfUtw

One would think (hope? assume?) that given the Naval Institute Press’ reputation (for many years they were the U.S. publisher of the Putnam aircraft manufacturers series, as well as many other highly rated  aviation volumes. When I was assigned nearby, I’d often go to their nice HQ bookstore while visiting the Naval Academy), RG could put cease being perturbed by a perceived encroachment into his lively hood and come across like a real scientist (or adult?) to give his book a bit more credibility.

Seriously, have we seen similar public dismissals of other researchers work in the media?

Even if RG is correct,  it looks unseemly, and makes TIGHAR look like it is more interested in credit and perhaps money, than solving the mystery.

Or is it just me being unreasonable?  🙂

If I were head of the NIP, I would certainly have that conversation with him.

J Boyle said, “Did RG continue to collect his (reportedly) $200k a year?”

The short answer is, No. The longer answer is, Yes. After the IRS investigated TIGHAR in 2018 (no idea on what, if any, findings they made, the IRS seldom discusses such things), TIGHAR’s “executive compensation” which is mostly Gillespie’s salary, dropped down into the more defensible mid-five figure range … before bouncing back up to $118,115 in the 2021 report (latest one on file).

Long term, though, TIGHAR’s executive compensation totals more than $2.6 million from 2001 to the present, an average of more than $129,000 per year.

Of more current interest is the fact that Gillespie’s daily e-mail blasts against the new sonar image near Howland Island have ceased rather abruptly. Oddly enough, the same week the Naval Institute Press posted a preview of his new book. You’d wonder of there was a connection, but, nahhhh …

Did RG continue to collect his (reportedly) $200k a year?

I think thats the only thing thats really happened since 2013

Frankly, its really the only thing that Tighar has ever really done

Didn’t RG recently say that the new image doesn’t look like an Electra?

Well, his image looks less like one. 

That story is from 2013. What have they done since? 

Did they collect the $3 million for a new expedition?

Did RG continue to collect his (reportedly) $200k a year?

TIGHAR is the last group who should be throwing stones and doubt on Sonar Scans

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/sonar-image-may-point-remains-amelia-e…
 

MFowler…”Gillespie needs to come up with specifics instead of randomly seeing what might stick on the wall.”

Again, why should he start now? 🙂

The group’s overall mission, particularly the AE “search” has always seemed scattershot.

Chase one idea for awhile only to put it aside when something shiny catches their attention, sometimes to be resurrected, sometimes not.

I could forgive a lot of the groups shortcomings, but at the end of the day, it just hasn’t been very professionally managed.

Topics dropped seemingly at the drop of a hat with little follow through. 

Things like unnecessary trips to Miami to chase information on the patch (which I believe you said resulting n in getting a scan of a photo not detailed enough to be of help), or my favorite a trip to northern Idaho to see if any wreckage remained of a crashed Lockheed …again to chase the patch angle. That was particularly farcical as a phone call would have confirmed that all the large pieces were recovered at the time of the crash….the crash site was not that remote. He managed to drag the US Forest Service and the local Native American tribe into that one.

BTW…The new AE news and TIGHAR’s response is a popular thread on WIX..where I posted a link to one of your earlier comments….it was well received by those new to this sordid mess.

https://myplace.frontier.com/~monty.fowler/tighar_analysis.htm

The horse farm is owned by someone Gillespie called a “TIGHAR benefactor.” It was supposed to have been bought out by Gillespie or sold to TIGHAR by 2018 – but here it is 2024 and it hasn’t happened 

wk165’s comment about what the sonar photo might be echos Gillespie’s increasingly shrill but so far evidence free guesses.

It might be from any number of airplanes. The fact remains that the seas around Howland Island have never been heavily populated by aircraft. Gillespie needs to come up with specifics instead of randomly seeing what might stick on the wall. 

The sonar return reminds me of a North American Fury.

Were any lost in the same area?

Mark,

I Don’t see group members banding together to go after their leader. 

It would entail a public declaration of how they were so gullible, not just once (as might happen if you buy a dodgy used car) but repeatedly, over many years.

Sooner or later one might think a critical thinking person would get concerned/alarmed/disillusioned by lack of progress or the non appearance of promised books and films…and the fact that apparently little of their basic doctrine (the alleged radio signals which they say prove she did not “crash and sink”) has been subjected to independent review. I’ll admit to having not read every post on their site…I don’t know if they are accessible to none paying members…but sooner or later you’d think the penny would drop and members might become leery of an apparent “It is because I say it is” methodology. If I we’re donating significant funds, or just the yearly dues, I’d feel better if someone outside the group agreed with the boss’ opinions.

Also, one attempt by a dissatisfied ex- supporter was unsuccessful in recovering anything.

And at the end of the day, I doubt if there is anything left to recover financially.

Isn’t the HQ/horse ranch owned by a member and basically leased to the group? Now if that person get angry, that might be a problem.

I think if this turns out to be Earhearts Electra that Gillespies bigger concerns will likely be from a class action of TIGHAR members and donors who will likely be able to claim they have been “duped”

So many “smoking gun” claims have been made to support fund raising only to quietly be dismissed later, if its proven all to be false and the entire Tighar “house of cards” collapses then the question arises to the motive and honesty of ever making those claims.

Congratulations to Gary for persevering with his navigational error analysis, it would seem he is being proven right, the Doc would be very pleased.

Pass the Popcorn this could get very interesting.

It’s difficult to ask this without emojis to make it clear that I am being mildly facetious, so you’ll have to take this as an indication of that. What,  MFowler, will you do for enjoyment if this really is Earhart & Noonan’s aircraft, and TIGHAR’s case collapses around them? Other than crack open a big bucket of popcorn and watch the fun, of course. You may have a big empty space to fill in your time!

Judging from the tone of Gillespie’s e-mail blasts seeking to debunk this sonar image before that group goes back to confirm it, my impression – and it is only that – is that he is very concerned that if it DOES turn out to be Earhart’s Electra, the discovery will tank all prospects for his new Earhart book due out in September of this year.

True, that would cut into his earnings if the book was cancelled, but TIGHAR has done fairly well for itself over the years. If you look at the 990 tax forms from 2000-2021, there’s more than $318,000 in total income that is excess of the total expenses. The 990 forms are not an infallible method for determining how and non-profit spends its money, but they are adequate for broad conclusions about where the money goes.

He was obviously working too hard to watch any of the countless procedural police shows on TV to learn the basics of evidence handling.

Should have taken Sarah Lancashire, Nicola Walker, Suranne Jones, or one of the Inspector Morse’ chaps along.

hypersonic said: “I’m sure the surviving relatives, of the crew, would have been very happy to provide DNA samples. For him/or a specialist working with him to carryout a DNA check against the human faeces and bones he claims to have found in the past. You can’t argue with real science!

i would need to go and check the Tighar-Pedia but its my recollection that they did test and find some DNA on the faeces log recovered from the sand at Nicu, unfortunately it turned out to be Ric Gillespies DNA covered all over it due to ham fisted “scientific” handling of the object.

“A welcome change from the blustery arrogance of the other group and its leader who always came across more interested in generating headlines than answers.”

And just incidentally of course, an income stream.

hypersonic said: “I’m sure the surviving relatives, of the crew, would have been very happy to provide DNA samples. For him/or a specialist working with him to carryout a DNA check against the human faeces and bones he claims to have found in the past. You can’t argue with real science!!”

That is just one of the many, many bits of its “evidence” that TIGHAR is no longer talking about. Which seems to fit the pattern of getting really, really excited about some random bit of detrius, stoking to flames of speculation so the donations to “help solve the mystery!” keep flooding in, and then … forgetting about it when it turns out the detrius is just that.

(There is rather a long list of things that either haven’t panned out (2-2-V-1, the ‘magic scrap” of aircraft aluminum being the most recent) or that are questionable enough to be meaningless (either the turtle/human finger bone or the bones found on Nikumaroro in 1940, take your pick).

Sabrejet..

“But if it really is Amelia and Fred then it will make him a laughing stock. He’d be better off acting graciously than behaving like a spoilt child.”

Why start now?

As my Newcastle-born mother in law used to say…”Left it a bit late haven’t we?”.   🙂

He seemingly has had nothing but scorn for anyone with a different opinion or theory, no matter the qualifications of those presenting them or the evidence to support them.

Really, can anyone correct me if I’m mistaken? 

Really, has the guy ever displayed a shred, an ounce, of modesty, tolerance or decency to others?

Has he wished anyone luck in solving the mystery he says he cares about solving?

If he has any class, he’d wish the group good luck and send them a bottle if champagne to pop if it turns out to be AE & FN.

If (when) he is proved wrong, he certainly deserves some scorn.

Karma, I understand, can be a b…. .

Now for the science bit…

If Mr Gillespie is serious about the location of Amelia and Fred – then where is his evidence?

I’m sure the surviving relatives, of the crew, would have been very happy to provide DNA samples. For him/or a specialist working with him to carryout a DNA check against the human faeces and bones he claims to have found in the past. You can’t argue with real science!!

I think the latest “sighting” is more likely to be correct than anything he has come up with thus far. But we must be respectful – what has been found may well be their final resting place.