Elgen M. Long

Despite the idiotic title, this is a gripping, meticulously researched study of the flying, communications and navigations techniques and technologies that Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan used on their ill-fated 1937 circumnavigation of the globe, What becomes clear on reading it is both the accomplishment of these pioneering aviators and the serious risks and limitations they fought to overcome - from bad weather, faulty maps and the weight of fuel, through to near-constant equipment show more failure, necessarily imprecise celestial navigation and radio direction-finding equipment so new that it was in the end poorly understood and misued. It's a story of needless disaster - an accumulation'of small errors and bad luck and cultural difference: an American encountering the different methods and expectations of international air space. The portraits the Longs paint of both Earhart and her navigator are of accomplished aviators who perished despite the effective execution of their duties.

Is this really how it all went down? Maybe. It's a persuasve argument because it is, ultimately, a work of aviation scholarship - a detailed study of technical limitations of the day, the particular limitations of Earhart's plane, the miscommunication of radio protocols, accidents and oversights, and the margins of error that were inevitable. The fuel consumption charts, mapped areas of navigational uncertainty, and exhaustive details of the Electra's equipment modifications make for a far more interesting and persuasive argument than wishful fantasies that put the Electra on some deserted atoll!

Just as compellingly, the Longs give a very realistic idea of what kinds of activities preoccupied Earhart and Noonan during the flights - as well as how they spent their time on the ground - checking weather, sending cables to clarify radio protocols, writing news dispatches, trying to get accurate time checks for chronometers, arranging for fuel, parts and necessary repairs. The enormity of this international coordinated effort begins to take shape and to make clear the commitment and resources that Earhart and her husband George Putnam brought to bear on the project.

Readers should understand though that this book is really about the round-the-world flights. People seeking a broader understanding of Earhart's life and activities prior to this period would do better to find a good biography. show less

Another book about Amelia Earhart, my second in recent times. This one is considered a primary source on her disappearance. It covers only her round-the-world flight....it postulates the simple solution; the Electra ran out of gas and went down in the Pacific ocean within 100 miles of Howland, Island on July 2, 1937. Why? Lots of reasons; radio incompatibility and training, communication miscommunication and the fact that Howland Is. was plotted six miles off its actual location on the show more navigator's charts. The author, a career pilot, suggests a search just a few miles West of Howland using deep water surveillance technology available in the 21st century. show less

The Longs have written a very detailed analysis of what went wrong with Earhart's last flight. After 25 years of research including interviewing individuals who were involved in the preparations for the trip or were participants at the way stations around the globe or were members of the search parties who looked for her after her disappearance, they have written what should be the most complete work on the last flight. They even suggest where modern day searchers should look for the plane show more so the last nagging questions about what went wrong can be answered. show less