The Earhart 'object' off Nikumaroro was debris and tree trunks
Archaeologist Rick Pettigrew's team rules out one satellite lead, yet still believes the Electra lies somewhere nearby.
TODAY
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 217,905 views a day, 44 times a normal first day on this channel (4,952).
‘No Conclusive Evidence’ Found of Amelia Earhart’s Missing Plane
Rick Pettigrew chose his words with care. "We can say now after conclusion of our work that the Taraia object did not or does not represent the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's Electra aircraft," the archaeologist and expedition leader says in TODAY's report from NBC's Janis Mackey Frayer.
The shape had been spotted in satellite imagery of the waters off Nikumaroro, the remote Pacific atoll that has long been one of the leading candidates in the Earhart story. Up close, it turned out to be a pile of accumulated debris and tree trunks. Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished in 1937 on their way to Howland Island, and the mystery has outlasted nearly every search since.
The report does not close the case. It eliminates one lead. The team points to artifacts found on the island that it says support the theory that the pair were marooned there. Back in the New York studio, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin ask whether the search goes on. Mackey Frayer says the team still believes wreckage is close by.
Purdue University's Steve Schultz appears as well, and the school's presence is not random: Purdue, where Earhart worked in the 1930s, helped pay for the Electra she flew on her final journey. Schultz closes with Earhart's own line that "adventure is worthwhile in itself."
The short clip drew about 144,000 views in eleven hours, and its comment section filled far faster than usual for the channel's Shorts. Many commenters say they expected the result, and some ask how long a search like this should continue. A pilot shares his own view of the 1937 flight, and a Purdue graduate remembers a summer spent in the dorm named after her.
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What viewers say
Amelia has connections to Purdue University. This was a noble effort. Earhart Hall, where I spent my summer one year, is named after her.
@bevnfredSee it on YouTubeThe Electra is at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean with Amelia and Fred keeping it a secret they share for eternity.
@31AldenSee it on YouTube
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- Channel
- TODAY
- Subscribers
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- Channel views, last 7 days
- 9,774,596
- Channel views, pace per day
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- Video published
- October 19, 2026
- Video views so far
- 144,146 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 217,905
The numbers
A news Short from TODAY usually opens quietly. This one moved at a very different pace.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which island were Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan trying to reach when they disappeared in 1937?
Howland Island, a tiny speck in the central Pacific, was the planned refueling stop on Earhart's round-the-world flight.