Newscaster and pilot Amelia Rose Earhart (no relation to Amelia Mary Earhart) landed at EAA AirVenture 2014 in Oshkosh, Wis., this week to thank her partners and sponsors for her around-the-world flight. Flying a Pilatus PC-12 NG outfitted with a 200-gallon auxiliary fuel tank, she recreated and completed the fatal 1937 journey of her famous namesake.
Rose Earhart and co-pilot Shane Johnson completed the 24,300-nm, 17-stop flight on July 11 in Oakland, Calif., after accumulating 108.6 flight hours over the course of two weeks. The modified PC-12 NG had a maximum range of 2,500 nm. Earhart announced “The Amelia Project” at AirVenture 2013.
Project sponsors included Pilatus, which provided the aircraft; Honeywell, BendixKing, Satcom1 and Inmarsat for avionics systems and satellite services; Jeppesen for flight planning and navigation charts and services; BBA Aviation’s Signature Flight Support and Dallas Airmotive for fuel costs and local service fees; and additional support from 1st Source Bank, Bose, Canada Goose, Global Aerospace, GoPro, Life Support International, Lockton, Rimowa, Survival Systems USA, Urgent RX and Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum. “I’m overwhelmed by the amount of support my partners provided leading up to and during this flight,” said Earhart.
Amelia Mary Earhart vanished over the South Pacific on July 2, 1937, while attempting the same flight in a Lockheed Model 10 Electra along with navigator Fred Noonan. The wreckage and remains from that flight have never been found.