When you buy through links on our situation , we may earn an affiliate committee . Here ’s how it works .

Sonar images allegedly showing the underwater remains of Amelia Earhart ’s missing planer actually feature something far more banal : a clump of rocks , the geographic expedition group that look at the picture has confirm .

Theunderwater sonar images were first revealed in January 2024by Deep Sea Vision , a South Carolina - based mysterious - water - geographic expedition party , draft what seem to be a deep-set plane cover 16,000 feet ( 4,900 meters ) beneath the Pacific Ocean ’s aerofoil . However , after an 11 - calendar month investigating , the company has announced that the structure is not Earhart ’s neglect plane after all .

a black and white photo of Amelia Earhart standing in front of a plane

Amelia Earhart went missing in July 1937 while trying to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world.

The statement was made in a Nov. 6Instagram post .

Earhart’s last journey

Amelia Earhart is one of the Earth ’s most celebrated airman and was the first char to wing solo across the Atlantic Ocean . However , on July 2 , 1937 , during an attack to become the first female pilot program to take flight around the earth , Earhart and her navigator , Fred Noonan , lead missing . The couplet was last see from while flying between Lae , Papua New Guinea , and Howland Island , a small coral atoll settle just north of the equator in the key Pacific Ocean .

Earhart fly a Lockheed Electra 10E , a twin - engined plane roughly the sizing of a coach , on this jaunt . The remains of the aviators and their woodworking plane have never been get .

Related:‘It is a treasure ' : Wreck off Kenyan coast may be from Vasco da Gama ’s terminal ocean trip

On the left, a sonar image showing a vaguely plane-shaped form. On the right, a diagram of Amelia Earhart’s plane

The sonar image of the alleged plane next to a diagram of the real plane.

Between September and December 2023 , a 16 - appendage crowd lead by Deep Sea Vision scoured around 5,300 straight miles ( 13,700 square kilometre ) of the Pacific Ocean floor using land - of - the - art echo sounder and laser imagination technology to search for the aircraft .

On Jan. 27 , the teamrevealedwhat appeared to be sonar range of a social organization that look like the drop plane , taken around 100 mile ( 160 kilometers ) off Howard Island .

" One of the most unique cardinal characteristic[s ] of [ Amelia Earhart ’s ] aircraft were the distinctive twin perpendicular stabilizers on the tail,“Tony Romeo , a former pilot film and current chief operating officer of Deep Sea Vision , previously tell Live Science . " The sonar double shows what appears [ to be ] two strong echoes from where these two erect stabiliser would be positioned . "

a wrecked car underwater

While some expert believe the effigy were credible histrionics of Earhart ’s aircraft , others , includingThe International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery(TIGHAR ) , were not convinced .

— Ming dynasty shipwrecks hide a treasure trove of artifacts in the South China Sea , excavation reveals

— Cave of Swimmers : 9,000 - year - old rock music art of people swimming in what ’s now the arid Sahara

A digital reconstruction of the RMS Titanic shipwreck.

— scientist harvest Modern inside information of cryptic , one C - old wreck submerged in Norway ’s largest lake

Upon return to the site where the image was take , the Deep Sea Vision team learned that the target was in fact a natural rock formation . However , Romeo said that the team is still continuing their search for the renowned wreckage .

" Deep Sea Vision aims to continue searching for Amelia until we come up her aircraft , " he told Live Science . " As we complete deep ocean geographic expedition work around the globe we will seem for more opportunities to return to Howland Island . "

a digital reconstruction of the Titanic shipwreck

An aerial photo of a roughly triangular island in the sea, which looks almost completely black

Here we see a reconstruction of our human relative Homo naledi, which has a wider nose and larger brow than humans.

an aerial view of a rock on Mars

Fragment of a stone with relief carving in the ground

Stone-lined tomb.

Circular alignment of stones in the center of an image full of stones

Three-dimensional rendering of an HIV virus

Remains of the Heroon, a small temple built for the burial cluster of Philip II at the Museum of the Royal Tombs inside the Great Tumulus of Aigai (Aegae)

The coin hoard, amounting to over $340,000, was possibly hidden by people fleeing political persecution.

An illustration of microbiota in the gut

an illustration of DNA

images showing auroras on Jupiter

An image of the Eagle Nebula, a cluster of young stars.

a reconstruction of an early reptile