Over the past few weeks much speculation has resurfaced about the final hours of the world famous aviator Emelia Earhart. During an attempt at becoming the first woman to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10-E Electra, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. The two were last seen in Lae, New Guinea, on July 2, 1937, on the last land stop before Howland Island and one of their final legs of the flight. It is generally presumed that she and Noonan died somewhere in the Pacific during the circumnavigation, just three weeks prior to her fortieth birthday. The 29,000-mile trip was nearing its end, she had the last refuelling stop at Howland Island before her, and then she was set to fly to California to finish her historic flight, but she never made it. At the time no trace was found of the plane or the two aviators onboard. Nevertheless, over the decades many attempts have been made to discover what actually happened to them. In the past few weeks, a photograph from a 2009 expedition in the Pacific Ocean around Nikumaroro Island, a remote atoll between New Zealand and Hawaii, appeared to show an engine cover buried underwater that could have been part of the boundary-breaking aviator’s plane. This development once again sparked interest in her story. The photo appears to show an object like a Lockheed Electra engine cowling, which could possibly be from her plane. Unfortunately, the similarities to an engine cowling and prop shaft were not noticed until years after the picture was taken and so the exact location was not noted at the time, which meant attempts to re-locate the object have been unsuccessful. Nevertheless, they have called in a forensic imaging specialist to analyse the photo to see what truths are hidden behind the differing layers of the image. If the imagine testing reveals that the engine cover was from Earhart’s twin-engine Lockheed Model 10E Special Electra it would at least explain where she crashed. The forensic analysing will allow the specialist to look through the photo and remove layers that make up the picture to reveal what is behind it. This is a relatively new technique but has produced some surprising results. They can digitally remove tones and colours to see what appears behind them, and it is an exciting new development in photography.
In society today people show a facade or a front, what they want people to see, just like a photo. They want to portray that they are always happy and content, that everything is going well in work and family life. There are no problems or difficulties in their lives. Nevertheless, seldom is this the truth. When the door of the house closes then the appearance of the people can change drastically. In the first book of Samuel chapter 16 verse 7 in the Bible, the LORD is speaking to the prophet Samuel and tells him, ‘for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.’ Men can only see the picture or facade that families and people want to reveal. However, God says I can look right into the hearts and thoughts of people. I know the truth of what is going on, nothing can be hid from him. He knows what is going on in your heart. If you are sad, worried or anxious today, turn to the true and living God and he will help you because he already knows and understands your problems.
P.Pilgrim pilgrimway101@yahoo.com
