Expedition to locate Amelia Earhart's plane facing severe weather challenges

Channel: CBS News

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] The race is on for researchers trying to

[0:03] unravel the mystery surrounding the

[0:05] disappearance of Amelia Heheart and her

[0:07] navigator nearly a century ago. A 17

[0:11] member expedition team has been

[0:12] conducting research on a remote island

[0:14] in the South Pacific after an object was

[0:17] picked up on satellite radar in 2020.

[0:20] But the team has been battling severe

[0:22] weather conditions and that has been

[0:24] delaying their efforts. CBS News

[0:26] national correspondent Lana Zach joins

[0:28] us. And we say the clock is ticking

[0:29] because they don't have unlimited time

[0:31] here.

[0:32] >> Oh my goodness, Lindsay. They are right

[0:34] there. They have been studying this for

[0:36] so long. And I was actually at Purdue

[0:39] University as Steve Schultz, one of the

[0:41] lead researchers, took off in his

[0:44] airplane. That's how long this

[0:46] expedition has taken to get to this very

[0:49] remote island in the South Pacific. They

[0:52] had five days at sea and they had five

[0:56] days that they were supposed to be on

[0:57] this island in the lagoon conducting

[0:59] this research. Three of them have

[1:01] already been spent just on the ship

[1:03] because of bad weather and they need at

[1:05] least one full day to finish their

[1:08] research including dredging that uh

[1:10] Teria object, that mystery object that

[1:13] we have been seeing on those satellite

[1:15] images. And then marine archaeologists

[1:18] are supposed to go in there and they're

[1:19] going to study things like the rivet

[1:21] patterns if it is in fact a plane. So

[1:24] all of that still needs to be done.

[1:26] >> Yes. That is that's the image that

[1:28] haunts uh Richard Pedigrew who is really

[1:31] leading the charge from the

[1:32] archaeological legacy.

[1:33] >> This is what led them here.

[1:34] >> Yes. Exactly. And can I tell you

[1:36] something so interesting about this? a a

[1:39] Navy veteran was at home during COVID

[1:41] just looking at satellite images and

[1:44] spotted during and you see that that's

[1:47] from 2016. It's because after he spotted

[1:49] it during CO they went back and started

[1:52] looking at all of these satellite images

[1:54] in this particular spot and that's why

[1:56] they think this is not a tree. Uh

[1:58] Pedigrew says it doesn't behave like a

[2:00] tree. He believes it to be metal but

[2:02] they need that confirmation and they're

[2:04] right there. But that ship has limited

[2:07] provisions, limited amount of fuel, and

[2:09] so they can't just stay there

[2:10] indefinitely. They're supposed to be

[2:13] leaving. They're now trying to figure

[2:14] out what to do.

[2:15] >> So if it in fact is part of the plane,

[2:18] the whole plane, what would the

[2:19] condition be after so long under all

[2:21] that sediment and in that water?

[2:23] >> Yeah. I mean, they believe that a

[2:25] tropical storm actually kicked it up and

[2:26] that's why they were able to see it uh

[2:29] on those satellite images. They have no

[2:31] idea until they really get in there.

[2:32] That's why it isn't as simple as just

[2:35] jump in, see what is this. They're

[2:37] trying to preserve everything so that

[2:38] they can get a better understanding of

[2:41] what happened to try and answer these

[2:44] questions at a play for so long.

[2:45] >> Quickly, just why are we still so

[2:47] fascinated with this?

[2:48] >> I mean, Amelia Heheart represents the

[2:51] best of American ingenuity. She was a

[2:55] female pioneer. What she was attempting

[2:57] to do in this moment was something that

[2:59] not only hadn't been done before.

[3:01] Circumn the globe uh at the equator, but

[3:06] the planes uh didn't have the capacity

[3:09] to do this. 34 stops she needed to make

[3:12] to refuel. And her expedition was

[3:16] stopping on tiny little Howland Island,

[3:18] which is to give you some perspective,

[3:20] this little speck in the middle of of

[3:22] the Pacific that's about as large as

[3:24] Central Park.

[3:25] >> Wow. Just incredible. Okay, Lana Zach,

[3:27] looking forward to hearing more

[3:28] throughout the weekend.