Plane in the lagoon at Orona

Discussion about wrecks and losses as well as historic sites in the Pacific.

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Tom Maxwell
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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

Post by Tom Maxwell »

Posting now to see if all my images can be uploaded directly rather than via photobucket. Photobucket begins charging users June 1 st. All photos are blurred on June 1 if user doesn't pay. Test<br> [img]http://OronaL10E.jpg_aquariusradar.com/OronaSaipanTheory.html[/img] <br>End test.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

Post by Tom Maxwell »

Image Can anyone tell me the correct method for attaching images to posts? Is the edit button disabled? I can't find it.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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Trying once again.
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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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That worked. Followed directions in FAQ. Now when Photobucket scrambles my images I can replace them directly. But I need to find the edit button.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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When I worked on Canton (Kanton) -1973-the Musick memorial was still in good shape. The Pan Am employees put up the little lighthouse and bronze plaque during the short time that Pan Am used Canton for Pacific flights to Australia/ New Zealand. I bring this up as I just read that Dr. Ballard's RV Nautilus is going to deep search for Musick's downed S42 Samoan Clipper off the Tututilla point at American Samoa. And later this summer the research vessel will do bottom survey research around the Howland/Baker Islands. Not advertised as a search for Amelia Earhart's plane, but I'm sure they will be keeping watch for any clues in the sonar/photo data.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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The Nautilus has completed the search for the Samoan Clipper at American Samoa. They were unable to find anything on sonar or video with the deep water ROVs. The ship will next visit Nikumaroro and look for Amelia Earhart's plane. And yes the National Geographic now advertises the expedition as a search for the missing plane.

Photoshop has overwritten some of the photos but I think most are still legible. If anyone wants, I can re-post the images you can't see well. The edit button is gone from most of those older posts.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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The EV Nautilus approaches the Phoenix Islands and plans on throughly searching Nikumaroro and surrounding deep ocean. I have lobbied the National Geographic expedition, through a third party contact and social media, to investigate the Orona lagoon location. My contact offers little hope that Orona will be a part of the expedition operations but Orona was at least briefly discussed in the expedition planning.

The Nautilus AIS position data has been cut off as well as the normal video's provided during explorations. I assume NG is so confident they will find something important such that the data black out is imperative. The expedition is needlessly searching for bits and pieces of the AE plane at Nikumaroro while the actual plane lies whole in the lagoon at Orona, as some readers of this forum thread already know.

A LiDAR equipped drone could easily reveal all components of the plane including the flat wings. Coral sand conceals the flat surfaces. In the image, specular light is reflected from the rounded surfaces and can be detected by the camera as the camera is located at exactly the right position to intercept the light. Blinding spectral light can be 10 to 100 times as bright as normal diffused light; thus it can penetrate the more sparse marine growth of the rounded surfaces.

To get a view of the aircraft before the Nautilus crew and Dr. Ballard do so (in the unlikely event they look at the lagoon), go to this GPS position with your Google Earth 2006 image of Orona: Lat South 4.4986 degrees and Lon West 172.1517degrees. Use eye altitude of 200 feet.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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Satellite position data on the Nautilus position is available at vesselfinder.com. Use the map to find the Phoenix Islands and with the expanded scale, you will find the blue dot indicating the ship's position just off the western edge of Nikumaroro. Also a pink ship indicator showing the position of the sailing yacht that is the providing for the land based exploration. While the updates are some 2 hours apart, the position of the Nautilus will be shown if it approaches Orona.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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The satellite position reports provided at vesselfinder.com indicate just about all of the reef shelf around the island has been investigated. In viewing the positions, I never saw the Nautilus linger at any particular position for very long; indicating to me that nothing of significance has been located. As of noon central time today the ship was about 1 1/2 nm off the sw side of the island along with the yacht employed for the terrestrial search of the island. They are rather far off the reef face at that time; nighttime is when a lot of exploring with the ROV's is done.

The Nautilus has an autonomous surface vessel (ASV) that is used for shallow water mapping. It could easily slip through the northeast channel of Orona and traverse 1 mile to the wreck location for photo survey. Still hoping the expedition does something like that at Orona. I hate to see Nautilus/Ballard and crew return home empty handed.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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After completion of the search at Nikumaroro, the Nautilus returned to Apia, Samoa and Pago Pago American Samoa, and is now on its way to the Howland Island search. In doing so, the ship's course takes it through the Phoenix Islands. From the course headings I have monitored at vesselfinder.com, looks like the Nautilus will pass very near Orona in transit. Will it stop for a look at Orona? They have all the equipment to do so.....drone photo reconnaissance, autonomous surface vessel, and of course SCUBA divers. They could even use the Hercules ROV as the tether is long enough to reach through the northeast passage as the Nautilus idles just offshore.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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Whoops! Nautilus came within 50NM of Orona.....and kept right on going north. But wait--not towards Howland. The path looks like the ship may be headed for Kanton (Canton). All visitors without pre-visit permits must go to Canton to get the permit and a PIPA/Kiribati representative. Maybe the expedition will visit Orona. One news arcticle says Dr. Ballard is still onboard the Nautilus. Maybe...just maybe.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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Not to be! The Nautilus stopped briefly at Kanton and left on a northwesterly course...apparently headed for the Howland/Baker Island area. This is a big disappointment for me. Ballard implied he would leave no stone unturned. I'm baffled. In a huge ocean and dealing with a 80 year mystery, would it not seem logical to spend an afternoon checking out a possibility that lies a mere fifty miles away?

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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The RV Nautilus is leaving the central Pacific and returning stateside. This was the best deepwater search for Amelia's plane ever conducted. Not only was Nikumaroro throughly examined (island and deep water surrounding), but Howland deep water as well. It's the best technology available; but not a trace of the aircraft was discovered.

So the mystery continues-except for many viewers here who can see the aircraft in the image and understand the rudimentary science (optics) that make it invisible in all other satellite photos. In the 2014 image, however, faint pixels reveal the exact same location for the windscreen and nose; but that is a subjective observation and not a basis for analysis.

All the posted images from my photoshop account are now blurred; I refused to yield to the bait and switch-now extortion- tactics of the company. I'll repost all those pictures on pages 3 and 4 starting with the Jailuit dock image discovered by Les Kinney in the archives.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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The horizon disparity is the basis of arguments for the authenticity of the Jaluit dock image. In addition to the disparity impeded in the image itself, additional supporting arguments are found in the Pacific Islands Monthly periodical Sept.1935, and the analysis of earth curvature as it relates to how far something can be seen on the horizon. That discussion is on page 4.

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Re: Plane in the lagoon at Orona

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The other images related to the arguments that the Jaluit dock photo is post 1936 as discussed on pages 3 and 4.

ImageImageImage

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