Amelia Earhart's Early Flight Experience

Amelia Earhart's Early Life and Career

• Born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas, defied traditional gender roles from a young age.
• Took an auto repair course, played basketball, and briefly attended college.
• Served as a Red Cross nurse’s aid in Toronto during World War I.
• Began flying lessons in January 1921 with Neta Snook and worked as a filing clerk to fund them.

Aviation Achievements

• Earned a National Aeronautics Association license in December 1921 and participated in her first flight exhibition shortly after.
• Acquired her first airplane, a secondhand Kinner Airster, nicknamed "the Canary."
• First woman to fly solo above 14,000 feet in 1922.
• In 1932, became the first woman, and second person overall, to fly solo across the Atlantic, landing in Northern Ireland.

Notable Records

• First woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross for her Atlantic flight achievement.
• Completed the first solo nonstop flight across the U.S. in 1932, traveling from Los Angeles to Newark in 19 hours.
• First person to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland in 1935.

Advocacy for Women in Aviation

• Co-founded the Ninety-Nines, an organization for the advancement of female pilots, in 1929 after competing in the All-Women’s Air Derby.
• Served as the first president of the Ninety-Nines, which represents women pilots from 44 countries.

Final Flight and Disappearance

• Departed Oakland, California, on June 1, 1937, for a flight around the world, her second attempt at circumnavigating the globe.
• Flew with navigator Fred Noonan, covering 22,000 miles before reaching Lae, New Guinea, by June 29.
• Disappeared on July 2, 1937, after losing radio contact en route to Howland Island; last sighting occurred shortly before.

Theories Regarding Disappearance

• The U.S. government posits that Earhart and Noonan crashed into the Pacific Ocean due to running out of fuel.
• Various hypotheses exist, including the Crash and Sink Theory, where they allegedly crashed during their search for Howland Island.
• Numerous expeditions using sonar and robots have failed to locate the wreckage of Earhart's plane.
• The Gardner Island hypothesis suggests alternate scenarios surrounding their disappearance.