Stratus Project

General information

The Stratus Project has one goal - to search for Amelia Earhart's lost Lockheed Electra.

The most famous and alluring of all aviation mysteries is the disappearance of Amelia Earhart in 1937. Earhart, a pioneer of aviation and advancement of women, was just 39 years old when she disappeared somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. She was attempting to become the first person to circumnavigate the world at the equator and had only 7,000 miles to go of the 27,000 mile journey. She was accompanied in her Lockheed Electra aircraft by world class celestial navigator Fred Noonan and on 2nd july 1937 they took off from Lae, New Guinea, for the 2,556 mile overwater flight to Howland Island. This tiny sand spit of an island had runways specially built on it for Earhart and a ship, USCGC Itasca, stationed off it to guide the aviator in by radio. Sadly 2-way radio communication was never fully obtained and Earhart never made it to Howland. No trace of Earhart, Noonan or the Electra were ever found, despite a 250,000 square mile search by the US Navy.

For years Earhart's disappearance has intrigued and captivated the world. Numerous theories as to what happened to Earhart have sprung up, each more fantastical than the last. Stratus believe that the most simple explanation is the correct one - that Earhart ran out of fuel and went down in the Pacific Ocean.

Although there have been numerous other 'crashed and sank' groups looking for Earhart, the Stratus approach to the mystery is unique. Everyone else has thought 'what would Earhart do?' but we are thinking 'what would Fred Noonan do?. Noonan was the navigator for the flight. To understand where the most likely location of the Electra is, you must understand the contemporary navigation techniques. The problem is, those techniques are no longer used due to modern technology such as GPS. A crucial member of the Stratus team, therefore, is Gary LaPook who is one of the few people alive today who is trained in the celestial navigation techniques that were used by Noonan. An expert in celestial navigation, Gary even uses the exact same sextant used by Fred Noonan for the final flight. When you can understand how celestial navigation works and the methods used by Fred Noonan it soon becomes clear that all of the previous search areas have been illogical.

We are very confident of our theory and want to solve this alluring mystery once and for all. For more information and to support the project please visit our website at: www.stratusproject.com.