I feel it was probably arrogance, going without a radio operator, not testing and making all sorts of radio operation errors was a sure way to die in a place where there was no other option but to land using radio signals
My introverted friend Emily was invited to our Halloween party. She dressed up as Amelia Earhart, sent us all a photo and said she’s on her way, and then never showed up. Truly iconic.
In Apollo 11 there were 3 Astronauts and 1 of them is always left out even though he had the most important job of waiting for the 2 that went to the surface all alone. If you don't know who I'm talking about I rest my case. It's Michael Collins by the way.
All thanks to AI, I think he probably outsources everything to a Chinese and Indian video editing sweatshop and he usually stands in a studio and the entire environment in the back is cgi including the grass lands he is standing on cuz all those places he gets to access is insane cuz no one can enter those places but how him lol something to think. He's fooling a lot of people. Thankfully an old head like me who is 45 yrs old can spot these classic tactics 😊
@@jotrutchhahaha well if you consider flying a plane was relatively new still And being a female pilot she definitely would have backed into after the First strike
right? i remember when i was young watching documentary about here. from what i watched i thought she got missing because she didn't have enough fuel. i was thinking to myself why would anyone do that? it was bad and stupid documentary it only focusd on that she is a woman pilot
One word: preparedness. If you want a fantastic example of preparedness, look at how Amundsen organized his South Pole expedition. Leftover fuel cans were found over 50 years later and were completely full. He marked his supply depots with rows of red flags for 1200 m in _each_ direction (E and W as he was travelling S and then N on the way back). He got to the 1200 m by taking the largest possible error on navigation, and then doubling it. They had enough food to miss a depot and still make it to the next one. His entire team were expert skiers and dog-sledders, so everyone could do everyone else's job. All this in 1911.
I believe that he didn't bother with (converging)latitude measurements when he got close to the pole - kept it simple. Opposed to Scott calculated both, time and complexity.
@@jurgenpeters1373 The runway is what made the expedition physically possible, the strategy by Amundsen outlined in the comment above seems to take it from physically possible to a slam dunk. Having two navy ships assisting your journey is very useful, but not that much considering the size of the pacific. The nature of the endeavour makes it a more difficult thing to be prepared for
@@herrk.2339 I haven't looked into it, but at the point where she found a mistake, sent a telegram to one of the ships before the departure but never waited for an acknowledgement (and the correction did indeed not reach the ship in time), wasn't there an element of haste in this? It might be harder to prepare for, but I do think she rushed too quickly into this.
I have a bone to pick with public education. They way Amelia's story was told essentially boiled down to: "she disappeared mysteriously over the Pacific ocean and nobody know what happened". The full story is so much more interesting.
My public education included a filmed dramatization of the actual communications between Itasca and Earhart. It was clear to everyone in the classroom there were radio issues. It was also understood her amateur understanding of radio technology - that there was literally a communication breakdown somewhere. It did not attempt to lay 'blame" or make conclusions - just that during the attempt great effort was put into guiding her flight but through accident or bad luck or the enormity of the challenge with the technology of the era, that it failed. And that she likely had to make a water landing and was probably killed or dead from exposure not long after. Public education typically sucks when it comes to history - I learned far more reading in the library than was ever presented in class - but in the case of Earhart and her disappearance, it got a pretty fair and unusually intesnive treatment for elementary school in the mid 1970's.
The absolute minutia of every significant historical event is really hard to cover. How detailed you get into what topics also depends on your teacher, school, state, textbook supplier, and other factors.
As a wildland firefighter I was taught that the cause of almost every single fatality could be traced to a breakdown in communication. The most recent ones all occurred because their radio signals stopped working. The technology has improved but the same risks and challenges still exist and still cause deaths.
IMHO, the larger factor in this: "Get there itis", a mental issue that has killed many pilots, as evidenced by: A. Leaving when conditions were less than ideal. B. Sending VITAL communications to ships about radios frequencies & etc. and not ensuring said communications were received, understood, AND that they made sense. C. Not turning back when she had a chance, and things were already going wrong. In other words, she was SO focused on getting there, she just kept blowing of potentially huge issues.
The fact that she appears to not have been receiving voice communication and did not turn back on such a radio dependent flight is quite remarkable. It's always good to exercise vital equipment before your life depends on it and part of her radio array had from out point of view shown no capacity to work. Perhaps she didn't expect to receive the weather updates and so didn't know that she was missing them, but the absence of a handshake communication protocol was a clear failure in the plan.
@@cidiousblack2136 Dude, it was 1937. People hadn't worked this stuff out yet. It's flights like this which are the reason we have these procedures today. We learn from others mistakes.
@@qarnos I'm sorry, what? We hadnt figured out the basic logic of "this entire project depends on the radio, we should make sure it works?" Even before ships went terribly wrong, I think we could figure out "the sailboat trip I set up needs a sail."
@@qarnos Nah mate. You know what you don't know and plan for it. In this instance, she did not know what she did not know and went ahead anyway. Her hubris or arrogance was astounding.
I'm amazed at how ill-prepared the expedition to cross the Pacific was. Amelia Earhart certainly had ambition and bravery, but it seems she was seriously lacking in her understanding of risk and how to mitigate that risk with redundancies. Instead of resolving uncertainties and potential issues before takeoff, she just hoped for the best.
She was brave and everything, but her behaviour seems incredibly stupid. It blows my mind how you can go on a journey like that and be lacking this amount of certanity and understanding...
It's common when you make mistakes but get away with them. You start to belive that it always be that way or even that you are special. It's even worse if other people praise you for your acheivments and bravery.
@@cyrkielnetwork The problem with complacency is that it DOESN'T get you every time. Also it's crazy that she didn't check her equipmet once in the air after takeoff.
We must remember that aviation in the 1930s was an ENTIRELY different beast than what we know today. Obviously in equiment and knowledge, but even more important in mentality. Today it is the best regulated, best trained and best controlled sector short of nuclear technology. There is an in depth investigation into ANY relevant accident or almost accident with recommendations published to reach everyone. Every failure has been analysed, chewed through by multiple experts. And even then, we have tragic accidents like Air France 447. A situation where a minor malfunction combined with misinterpretation leads to a desaster and the death of hundreds of people. That was just 15 years ago. In an era where communication was a challenge under the best conditions, technology often unreliable and understood by very few, training scarce and daring counted for much it is perfectly understandable how Earhart ended up with her plan. Nobody of her peers would have acted much differently.
I sailed in the US Navy as a Radioman/IT for 25 years and then 5 years on commercial ships. An old hand on my first commercial ship told me "You get careless out here, danger will find you". He was correct about sailing and life in general.
I never considered how complex radio communication was back then, having multiple antennas tuned to different frequencies. I grew up on video games that have a map marker to the destination. I've always wondered if modern planes have something similar to that because they use GPS. Is flying today as simple as portrayed in the video games? Just point your nose to the map marker?
That is true in many fields. If you are surrounded by danger, you will eventually stop seeing it. I am a chemistry teacher and handling dangerous chemicals on a daily bases makes you careless. You need to constantly remind yourself that the safety measures are necessary, because if something goes wrong, even if it is unlikely, the results could be devastating.
This was the absolute best documentary on Amelia Earhart's final flight that I've ever seen. Despite seeing dozens of depictions of the flight over the years, none of the radio mistakes/malfunctions were ever explained. Most of the documentaries wanted to focus on the conspiracy theories instead of the science. The science is infinitely more interesting. Thank you for this!
@@Machoman50ta Doesn’t stand up to analysis, financier and organizer was Palmer Putnam, navigator and radio operator was Fred Noonan. Incomplete preparation was the culprit.
This story is a chilling reminder of how small errors can cascade into tragedy, especially in high-stakes situations. It makes you think about all the "what ifs" and how important clear communication and shared responsibility are. RIP Amelia Earhart.
We call it the "swiss cheese effect" in aviation (and probably lots of other places). Sometimes the mistake makes it through all the holes and doesn't get stopped by the cheese, and that's when there's an accident.
SMALL errors? And she stacked up a whole slew of large risks on top. The possibility of the outcome realized was predictable, at some fairly high percentage.
@dannymaxx510 I have only heard the Swiss cheese effect in discussions about aviation safety, but I bet it is a common engineering term too. I just started to think about the Therac-25 incident
"When attempting any challenging endeavor, you need someone with the right knowledge who will also take responsibility for getting things right." This is so true. Too many projects fail due to unknowledgeable people in charge or knowledgeable people not taking enough responsibilities.
Yah the knowledgeable people are walked over by unknowledgeable people because of nepotism,wokeism and the sort. So guess what, the knowledgeable people give up and watch the disaster happen.
One can only speculate why the navel officer didn’t take responsibility for her, but one can imagine her personality and connections made it impossible
Well Done! You got this 100% correct! Even at medium wave, you get both ground wave and sky wave propagation, and it gets VERY tricky at dusk and dawn. You can try this at home with a portable AM radio. It helps to set the radio on a "lazy Susan" with the bearings on a piece of paper sitting under the lazy Susan, so you can "steer" it and take bearings. This is a fun "kitchen table activity" to do with kids by the way. I must add here, that each time the HF signal "bounces," it changes its polarity. "Sense" antennas quite frankly just don't work very well. In my experience, I have never trusted them and instead find it best to take SEVERAL bearings from several known locations to get the best fix. LF has its problems, too. But nothing like HF. I agree that if she would have just stuck with the trailing antenna, she would have had a much better chance. I did not know that they weren't using GMT universally at the time as we certainly do now (actually, it's UCT and not GMT these days, but the point is well...on point! We STILL throw around meters and frequency these days. Generally, when we speak in terms of meters, we just mean a general BAND of frequencies, and not a SPECIFIC frequency. 6 MHz range still carries a bit better at night as opposed to day. The 7 MHz is really the best for 24 hour coverage, but still reaching much greater distances at night. You might further expand on the radio amateurs that heard her transmissions which were called "hoaxes" but were likely not. (This also happened to an Irish Ham who certainly did intercept TITANIC'S signal in 1912 by the way.) FINALLY, you might also do a video on the B-24 "Lady be Good" found in the Libyan Desert, a "classic" case of "reading the back of the loop." Artifacts, even including the navigators sheet and tactical call signs (for if damaged but CAN make it back to base as opposed to "CANNOT" make it back to base, etc.) are on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, along with recovered artifacts. I also hate to say this, but she represents the dividing line from barnstormer to avaitor. She was a little of both. And the public was still at the "wow" stage on both aviation AND radio. It was all still "magic." And propagation was way less understood. It's also IMPORTANT to know that propagation is STILL not completely understood even today. All the Best! 73 DE W8LV Bill
As a pilot who's been lost before as well as one who's flown over large bodies of water in single engine aircraft, I have at least a basic understanding of just how challenging what she attempted was and how your mind can start to run away with incorrect or fatalistic assumptions if not trained or rested properly. My heart sank for her as the story progressed. She had a lot of odds stacked against her and she has my deepest sympathy and respect.
Agree, the Pacific is vast, the understanding of radio waves before WW 2 was limited as was the equipment. Much was learned during WW 2. Dad spent his adult life flying in the Canadian Arctic he was a very good navigator he could find the trappers cabin at night on the vast tundra, lake shore, or where it was.
As a student pilot, I kept getting both amazed and mortified more and more about what early aviators had to do to find their way. In a more amusing note, while VORs are going out of fashion in lieu of GPS, they're not THAT different than what they had finding the dips in signal with their loop antenna.
About 20 years ago in my country, a 737-300 lost their navigation and communication (according to national transportation safety board, both device was malfunctioned) in the middle of sea. The pilot decided to turn to the right which according to map, land should be somewhere to the right. But they could only guessed since they had no devices to measure how much degree they were turning. Their only hope was they could spot a land then try to figure from the land features to guess where they were at. They ended up landing on small airport around 800 kilometer away from their origin and destination.
Noonan the Navigator was not sitting beside her in the cockpit. He was actually sitting behind her with a large fuel tank between them...they used a fishing line with pulleys to send notes with navigation numbers and fuel burn rates between each other
The last message of the video was truly a powerful one. As an engineer, it resonated with me. You have to have proper knowledge to take on the responsibility.
Amen from another engineer. Knowledge seems to be in good supply. Responsibility seems to have fallen off. But to be fair, it seems that taking a stand for engineers is a greater risk than in days gone by. Just seems so to me.
I wonder what Manning's private thoughts may have been after the flight went missing? "Whew, glad I didn't go I thought this might have happened." Or, "Had I gone, this never would have happened." I suppose he was interviewed, and someone here may have read something about what he may have said, if any thing.
IMO, it seems like he left the mission because he knew there were flaws in the plan, and perhaps Earhardt wasn't willing to listen to him about it? Either way, after the previous crash which he'd been in, he was probably thinking "I'm not surprised"... Edit to clarify this is my opinion not something I've read.
@@deehaws4334 It's a fairly well educated guess. If I were in a car wreck with someone I would certainly never let them drive me anywhere again. Doubly so for an airplane. Airplane problems may occur less frequently, but when problems do occur it's fairly rare that one simply walks away from the incident unharmed.
Her preparation was clearly lacking and she was taking unnecessary risks with her and her crew's life, he clearly cottoned on to her recklessness and bailed before she got him killed.
It's not just one factor that causes a plane crash. it's a chain of errors that ultimately leads to the accident. Amelia Earhart is not the only example of this pattern.
@@musafirgauravv AI must have been gotten really good to umm... what did the AI do again, can you elaborate?? If it's done the whole thing it certainly wouldn't look this good at the current level of AI; if they just did the animation well I've got bad news for you buddy, 3Blue1Brown did a video on how to make these style of animations using Manib(m). Nevertheless, I still wanna know what you meant when you said it was made by AI
9:18 - God could you imagine discovering you think will be absolutely pointless, only for it to essentially redefine the course of humanity. To think, radio waves were literally the impetus for Radio, Television, eventually Wifi and Cellphone signals. It potentially altered the course of WW2. Hertz was so incredibly humble for how monumental this discovery was.
@@otterlyso As with almost everything we discover, they're always standing on the shoulders of giants. I'll never discount how important the discoveries of those that come before us were and still are.
Amazing, isn't it? Although you can see where he was coming from. Tiny sparks you could only see under a microscope? And with the emitter super close by? Yeah, what do you do with that? It's mind-boggling to think that despite the square-cube law we can use these same waves to communicate with spacecraft outside our solar system and even see the very beginning of the universe!
I mean, light and sound were always available as wireless communication methods, so... I'm assuming he didn't know about the atmosphere being a mirror to radio waves. How could he have predicted any usecase?
Failing to fix her position with the USS Ontario was her BINGO fuel moment. The fact that she did not return to her departure point but instead proceeded on is proof enough of Manning's doubt about her airmanship and decision making.
the mirage of global fame must be so powerful... few of us can really comprehend its impact on one's actions and decisions... history is full of examples of 'silly' decisions by powerful and skillful individuals who got 'blinded' by this mirage. i imagine the feeling to be intoxicating, a form of inebriation capable of twisting realities. as expected some comments refer to her abilities as a woman but some great worriers led entire armies on futile paths (against the pleads of other experienced worriers) just to 'prove a point' or 'make history'.
I still have a lot of respect for Earhart and what she accomplished. But it is shocking how sloppy she was about such critical communication issues. Maybe she was just used to either being over land or flying over oceans but knowing that a huge continent would eventually appear even if she was off course. But trying that over the largest expanse of water on Earth was downright crazy.
@@MrJdseniorI feel like you have to be to try something like that. People at the frontier are a little nuts. Imagine being the first person to strap themselves to an ICBM and orbit the earth? Imagine being the first person to make it to mars? There’s always the risk of death. There’s a reason the first astronauts were fighter pilots and test pilots
@@berengerchristy6256Of course, you need to have a certain level of risk taking in order to try this, but the smart ones do everything they can to reduce the inherent risk, control for the variables that they can to give the best possible chance of success.
@@berengerchristy6256 there's always risks for any great historical achievement. However, sometimes there's completely UNNECESSARY risks, and completely stupid decision making (even based on the limitations of the time); that Amelia demonstrated on the most dangerous leg of her journey.
Hitting a tiny island in the middle of he biggest ocean in the world would seem to be daunting enough for her to take a few extra precautions. I think she was always going to push the envelope until it pushed back.
@@mosubekore78 no, it was mistakes of many peopel involved. she even asked wether her suggested frequency was good for transmission, and noone bothered to correct her. she certainly wasnt the only technician/engineer working on the craft, such issues should have been brought up beforehand. if not, then theres another mistake of not involving enough engineers.
Fun fact: The Electra originally had a very different tail, until a young guy told the chief designer the plane would be unstable like that. The young guy turned out to be right, and got to running the extra wind-tunnel tests to re-design the tail. His name? Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, and he'd go on to heading development on the first US jet-fighter (P-80), the U-2, and the SR-71, and his division of Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin) would create the idea of a Skunkworks division and the first stealth-plane - the F-117. The hypersonic test-plane "SR-72 Darkstar" in Top Gun: Maverick was designed with the support of Skunkworks, and if you look close you see on the tail the traditional skunk logo.
@@dumbahhpersonI was also skeptical but I just went a searchin in the internets and can confirm the parts about the “Model 10 Electra”. Didn’t care to confirm anything about the Mavrick movie but the career part was true and very impressive
That sounds very Kelly Johnson: later in life someone else at Lockheed was known to say of him "that damn Swede can see air." He was a proper legend of aircraft design.
41 here, been hearing about this for years. never has it ben explained so clear and concise. Its amazing what the entire story and truth can do. Absolutely awesome video of this story. Side note, I'm a utility pipe line locator, your examples helped me finish understanding visually what I am doing. I use the pipehorn HL800.
Industry I worked in for many years, we always trained, "Okay, but what do you do if THAT doesn't work.... and if THAT doesn't work? What if..." Seems like she relied on things working just right and didn't really have any backup plan.
Not entirely true. The video mentions they had dead reckoning, celestial navigation, and multiple radio systems. They had backup plans, but they didn't do the due diligence to ensure each plan was fully baked and operable, that all parties involved were well informed and prepared.
@@error.418 I think celestial navigation is a bit overrated in aircraft. At the start of WW2, the RAF bombers could barely find the right city to bomb using celestial and dead reckoning, in fact they often found the wrong city. In fact Switzerland was bombed several times, and that's not even the right country.
@@dougerrohmer Oh I'm making no comment as to what is viable, just that they did have multiple methods. I also have no clue if it's reasonable to compare Noonan's abilities with those of WW2 bomber pilots.
I think it's very much a sign of the times. Just look at workplace death rates throughout the last century. Today, we do what you say, having backups for backups. Back then, "try not to die" was sort of the equivalent of current OSHA standards. And @error.418, having a backup plan that isn't tested and confirmed is virtually the same as not having a backup plan. It's the difference between going on a summer camping trip and bringing jackets vs. saying "ah, it shouldn't rain I think"
Look up Prof Reason Swiss Cheese model of accident prevention. At every event of the story, I hear how she slipped thru another hole in the Swiss Cheese. But this was in the early days of aviation and radio. Accident investigators note all the mistakes they can find and try to write regulations to avoid other accidents. As they say, the regulation rules are written in blood. Lookup Mentour channel, Gimli Glider episode.
Wrong frequency, wrong wind speed, wrong antenna. This is what regular people are really like when there's no SOP in place, with chaos instead of order. For harder projects like Apollo, it wouldn't have been remotely plausible with this level of inaccuracy.
Well Apollo had hundreds of people with extremely specialized knowledge for every little component of the mission. So yeah, no lol rocket science/astrophysics is definitely not something where you can "just wing it" and expect success.
I knew I would be sad, but I didn't think I would get this angry at the lack of preparation on Earhart's part. I always figured it was just adventurism hitting the limit of the technology. But I can't understand not having complete understanding of vital equipment and complete synchrony with the people you relied on for such a bold journey.
That face after saying Hertz couldn't see what radio waves could be used for was priceless (as I'm watching this over wifi with wireless headphones sitting next to a cell phone and a handheld 2-way).
Another perfect example of the Swiss Cheese Model: how a number of individual mistakes could never have a significant impact, a multitude combined end in a catastrophe.
As a retired broadcast engineer after 40 years in the industry and an Amateur Radio Operator for over 45 years, in a short explanation he did not too bad. One must take into account the year which determines what technology was available. The differences between night and day propagation on the different frequencies. The level of experience of the operators. It is truly complicated.
The amount of budgeting and resources they were willing to spend to aid her on the trip really shows just how different the world was in terms of aviation. Imagine asking three US naval ships to just wait for you and help with navigation nowadays.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson described the difference between JFK's "we will put a man on the moon before the end of the decade" (i.e. USA will land on the moon under MY watch), and Obama's "we will reach Mars in 20 years" (aka a Mars mission under a future, unnamed president and a largely imaginary budget to be decided later) He then said political will is as necessary as scientific knowledge when it comes to making large scale progress
It's more a reflection of someone with the right connections able to amass more resources then their abilities should otherwise allow. For more modern day examples see Elizabeth Holmes or Richard Stockton.
@@DavidKiviat That is very true as well. It’s certainly a component to it here; likely more than was explained in the video. I’d assume it has to take more than just aviation interest to organise this, but I’m not exactly familiar with who Earhart was socially. I assume she wasn’t a multi millionaire but she was clearly a celebrity of some significant calibre, since it doesn’t exactly immediately appear directly similar to the Oceangate fiasco.
One of the very best analysis of this mystery. First time I've heard of the USCG internal issues.... again, really great and well produced piece. Thank you.
I genuinely do not understand how the Veritasium team has managed to keep up even a small fraction of their editorial quality while pumping out so many of these videos. It's incredible.
amount of miscommunication and small errors is mindboggling, but understandable for the times and how difficult it was to properly communicate across distances.
I wouldn't call it mind boggling. Communication wasn't everywhere, and was "primitive" today. The margin for error was small, and this was a VERY risky trip from start. Just over confident and adrenaline fueled.
I'm a pilot. I've been flying for 8 years. I've studied sense and loop antennas. I've taught other pilots about sense and loop antennas. And I've never understood them as well as I do now! Your videos are great, thank you for your dedication and effort.
@@clinch4402 No, he didn't say he didn't understand or know how to USE these systems; he simply said that he never understood them BETTER than after watching this. That doesn't make him unqualified to fly, or use them. There is always more to know about the technology we use every day, whether or not the knowledge we gain is theoretical or practical. This is how we become better at what we do. No one starts out - or uses technology effectively for many years - knowing EVERYTHING about the many forms of technology used in aviation, or any other technical endeavor. Are you an unqualified driver because you don't understand every intricacy of how and why the hydraulic braking system in the car you drive works? If you don't (or pick any other critical system you have used/are using), does this make you 'unqualified' to operate it? If this were so, we would have NO astronauts, drivers, pilots, or any other people to operate any machine or system in the world. By your metric, how many things are YOU unqualified to operate, that you DO operate?
What killed her was people giving a number with no units attached and expecting to be understood. And people hearing a number with no units attached and thinking they know what it means. This applies to the radio wavelength/frequency and to the time without timezone.
It is still commonly believed that Earhart was an excellent pilot. However, other pilots who had watched her fly were quite critical of her for her lack of skill and knowledge. Other women pilots who had flown in races against her described her sloppy flying to include problems taking off and landing. At the end of one cross country race, she bounced so far down the runway that spectators thought she was going to crash at the end of the field. The crash in Hawaii was another example of these shortcomings. Her and Noonan's deaths were a direct result of her believing her own publicity and her hubris.
She had 400 hours of flight time. The average pilot needs about 1500 to be considered experienced enough to start flying for airlines. She fancied herself a veteran but she had the same experience as a student. You need 250 hours to graduate from commercial pilot school and 40 to be given a private pilot license.
@@blackkennedy3966 After extensive training program and certification that is. At at the time both were pretty much nonexistent, or at least nowhere near as good as modern ones. The best you could get was education in military schools, and even that was extremely lackluster AT ITS TIME, the only real way to get to know the aircraft at any decent level was practise and common sense combined.
If she had only 400 hours that sort of tells me she could fly but not deal with emergencies or less than perfect scenarios. The Hawaii incident could have been the result of a crosswind and not having good aileron correction. Flying is so much more than simply straight and level flight. All those skills for non ideal conditions are learned over thousands of hours
Hey thank you guys. I did my first ever Research paper on this exact topic in the late 90's. at the time No one really knew what happend and the military didnt share information. thanks for completing something i been tring to look in to for 30 years
My grandpa was a radio operator in WWII and a passionate aviation fan, and I took my geeking about those topics from him. I'm sure he would have loved this video as much as I did. Thank you Veritasium.
This video made me appreciate even more having a device that fits in my pocket and can tell me precisely where on Earth I am. Not knowing about radio waves nor stars.
That was a fun afternoon. The receiver is one I built about 8 years ago using a design by Nick Roethe DF1FO. This video only includes audio from one ear - the other ear has a "whoopee" tone that makes it much easier to DF, but Earhart didn't have that
Taking responsibility is a risk-taking behaviour. I remember when on a summer job at a power supply manufacturer, I found out an issue with the product that had to be corrected - when boxes were already about to be loaded into the shipping truck. So I said wait, we have to fix this. Later that day, my boss said, it's great that you stopped the shipment, it was a responsible decision. But you should have gone straight to my office, because you did not have the right to stop the shipment. And he was right - I had no such right. I just had the responsibility to pretend I did, because the alternative would be a recall. Some people are primarily mission-oriented: they want to accomplish the end-goal. Others are more process-oriented, they are motivated to follow the procedures. Aviation is an interesting combination of the two, because following procedures is critical to safety. That means it is very risky to start improvising, and there is a strong requirement to avoid doing it. There were two key elements that were missing in Earhart's flight: understanding of radio propagation on her part, and a strict, mutually-agreed to, detailed communication plan. Given that there was no possibility to divert, disaster was a distinct possibility. And yet, everyone seemed to have thought "we'll make it - somehow." Of course, hindsight is 20-20.
Even today, with the most precise and highly calibrated sextants, a position error of two miles is considered extremely good, and 10 miles is more common. So you are not at an intersection of two lines, unless you drew the lines with sidewalk chalk. Navigators always draw a position circle, called a circle of error. The important question is not "where are we" but rather, "how large is the circle of error?"
Navigators? Is it just not safe to rely on GPS? GPS truly is a marvel that we all take for granted, myself included. Is it a bad idea to rely on it in at sea?
GPS is more than adequate. Even integrated conditions in the south Indian Ocean the maximum sort of error you might experience would be a range of about 100 m. Typically GPS has you within 1 to 3 m. OP is talking about navigation without GPS
@@Tyler-z8rGNSS (of which GPS is one such system) uses trilateration to calculate your location - which is not much different to what is discussed in the video but in 3 dimensions instead of 2. Think of it as plotting multiple spheres, your location is most likely within the area they all overlap. As such, the accuracy and precision (please note, they're not the same thing) is still within a certain radius. Both will likely improve with more satellites visible to the receiver but there is still a "circle of error" as the OP of this comment said.
Well actually, you typically do not (in my experience) navigate on a chart by using a "circle of error." You navigate on a chart using either a "fix" or a running fix or estimated and assumed position. Which are all single points. An estimated/assumed position incorporates your idea of vagueness and uncertainty but is nevertheless represented as a single point. I've never seen or used a navigational chart by advancing a series of circles. If you draw a circle on a chart (which navigators do not usually do) then you cannot thereafter advance your position, you are just advancing ever widening circles which is not common and probably does not work. I'm nitpicking here, but since your circle of error is essentially unknowable while underway, navigators do not go around questioning how large their circle of error is, either. Today's sextants give better positions primarily due to better timekeeping devices and better optics. Large sextant position errors -say over two or three miles- is primarily due to being bounced around by waves, or lousy viewing conditions. I'm sure you'd agree. Not that anyone still uses celestial navigation much these days, although you still master it (somewhat) to earn your Coast Guard licenses.
It also helps if you use 3 stars per fix--as that "circle of error" can be more precisely known by the triangle it forms. Of course for Fred, that morning, he was using only the Sun, which didn't tell him if he was north or south of Howland--unless he had a super-precise compass, and precise magnetic variation charts. Performing a "landfall procedure" at 1,000' made it impossible to see the island unless they got within a few miles of it. Sextant errors on aircraft can usually range as a high as a dozen miles. Celestial navigation from an airplane is much more difficult than from a ship.
Kudos to team Veritasium and Derek for bringing an extraordinary content regarding the tragedy of Amelia Earhart. This truly tells you why shouldn't do certain things if you are NOT an expert in that. She should've been prepared well enough for what she has planned.😢 In my mother tongue we have a Thirukkural saying like.... Many small disasters add up to a big one if we are not prepared enough (பீலிபெய் சாகாடும் அச்சிறும் அப்பண்டஞ் சால மிகுத்துப் பெயின். Meaning : With peacock feathers light, you load the wain; Yet, heaped too high, the axle snaps in twain.)
That’s because it would make her fallible, or responsible. That isn’t the prescribed narrative. Same reason we aren’t taught Noonan’s name when we “learn” about Amelia. Same reason nobody ever told you that Marie Curie shares her first Nobel Prize with two men whom she owes her second Prize to. We are meant to believe these are rogue, superior women, out there sticking it to the man and making the real advancements.
I was underwhelmed when I heard neither Noonan nor Earhart was fluent in Morse code. Depending on voice only, in those conditions, in that era, for two way communication? That was ill prepared.
Wow, learned a lot of interesting things from this video. 1. More details about Earheart's disappearance than just "she vanished without a trace." And 2. A whole lot more about old radio communication and equipment. I never understood what that loop antenna was for or the field with the 5 large antennas in it. Didn't know those were primarily for navigation. Very interesting. Thank you.
So, my Father worked at Lockheed, from the 60's until he retired (his first project was the L-1011). The lore around the Company was that she wasn't known as a great pilot. Apparently, she was bringing her Electra's back for repair a lot.
"When attempting any challenging endeavor, you need someone with the right knowledge, who will also take responsibility for getting things right." - so true.
This is the same effect that allows for polarized light. It’s just operating at much higher frequencies. The elegant parallels among EM phenomena were a big reason I got hooked into electronics engineering.
YES ! You said "elegant parallels"........ I think it is really spooky that very different forms of stored energy eg Kinetic, Magnetic, Electric all seem to follow the same rules......... Energy of a moving body is = 1/2MassVel(sqd) Magnetic Energy around an inductor is = 1/2LI(sqd) Electric Energy in a capacitor is = 1/2CV(sqd)
It's stunning that neither person on the airplane had enough of an understanding of radio to either properly plan for the use of the equipment prior to the flight or to troubleshoot the issues that developed in-flight. That should have been priority one of the flight crew, as they had a snowball's chance of finding their landing site without radio direction finding.
There was radio operator on the first attempt which ended with a crash. He did not join the second attempt, it is unclear if this was due to other commitments or self-preservation.
I will be sending this to my friends who are getting into ham radio. This is one of the clearest demonstrations of the basic principles of radio waves and equipment I think I've ever seen. Makes it very accessible. Thank you for this.
This radio direction finding demonstration is a BEAUTIFUL explanation and demonstation of one of the simplest, most basic, and most comon methods of radio direction finding in existance. Most now days are higher tech, but use exactly the same ultimate method. As a licenced ham for 30 years, I've built and used several antennas of this type, though now days I prefer to use doppler based methods.
I’ve been getting into learning about ham radio and I heard that they have field days and contests in order to test their equipment and make sure they know how to communicate effectively, because you can’t just assume everything will work the first time in an emergency if you don’t test yourself often.
@@drivers99 There are two big activities hams do for this reason, one is the anual "Field Day" contest which you mentioned, and the other, relevant to the demonstration in the video, is hidden transmitter hunting, commonly known as "Fox Hunting" in which someone hides a radio transmitter, and others attempt to find it with whatever direction finding equipment they have. The hunt might cover a small city park, or an entire large city, depending on the teams, and the gear to be used. The hidden transmitter could range from someone in their car transmitting with 50 watts, to a tiny microcontroller based transmitter powered by a hearing aid battery and hidden in a camera film can under a log in a city park.
5:20 So she had the President build an entire airfield just for her, in a totally remote place, and she didn't even wind up using it? That'd be hilarious if it weren't, you know, SAD
@jadegecko - We don't know for sure that that is the story. Even the telegram could have been part of cover. FDR says to Earhart "It'd behoove the U.S.A. to have runways on Howland Island, just in case. The world is uncomfortable just now, and I'm worried. The best way for the U.S. to get those runways built is if a nice girl sends a telegram to the President and asks for them so she can land her plane while on a peaceful publicity-stunt. Then Congress will green-light this without fear of international reaction or provocation". That MIGHT be what happened.
She was arigant and a female chauvinist. She was a horrible navigator. She had the best navigator in the in the industry and fired him just before the trip because he would push back when she was wrong, which was often. Then she hired a yes man for her new navigator.
The sadder thing is that it was supposed to be the first part of the trip, but due to the accident in the first take off attempt she had to go the opposite way, ended up leaving the most challenging part for last and pretty much what could go wrong went wrong. But technically they didn't build an airfield, they just cleaned three runaways for her to land in, it was a rudimentary runaway, there was no pavement, it was a refueling stop to get to the US.
I never would've guessed that Amelia Earheart could have saved herself by simply switching to her loop antenna for all communications. I'm not a pilot by any means, so it wouldn't be as obvious for me, lol. Nonetheless, may she rest in peace.
Idk if it would be obvious to most pilots at the time. Clearly her biggest mistake was attempting this without having someone with deep knowledge on radio technology on board. She had that one guy, but he either left or was "fired" as Derek mentioned in the video.
@@KendraAndTheLaw You think? 3 of last 4 recent comments are all negative comments no? Who knows how much more of your 52 are also hate comments. At least be truthful to yourself when insulting a whole group, you said it with hate. ( Thanks for adding words to my vocab btw, real sleek using wimmen instead of women aren’t ya? Good thing I have google )
These type of stories always humble me and help me realise what amazing communication capabilities we have nowadays. There is so much we take for granted, and besides basic concepts I have no idea how they really work and how small changes or mistakes in interpretation can have a big impact. I will think about this the next time I complain the WiFi on the plane doesn’t work.
Yeah, there are like 4 different technologies today, any of them making this navigational task trivially easy (VOR beacons, GPS, radar, and ADS-B or even it's more primitive transponder predecessors).
This video goes miles, and I mean it MILES above the quality of any documentary and/or science video. 37 minutes ago I had never heard about Amelia Earhart's story and I was all the time on the edge of my chair watching. As if this were an S-tier rated thriller. 10/10 storytelling, 10/10 animations 10/10 science inputs. And what touched me the most, was 32:10 - although without a shadow of a doubt Derek had practiced his script and knew the story by heart, telling what the most propbable demise of the plane was, made him grieve and I could feel tears in both my and his eyes. This has to be my favourite Veritasium video so far and would be insanely hard to outclass it. Props to everyone involved in it and may A. Earhart rest in peace. If you made it this far in my comment, have a nice day and like the video, it truly deserves it!
Simply failing to obtain confirmation the ship received her telegram instructions and would be broadcasting at those intervals. Any one of those things, if ensured, would have provided what was needed to navigate. Failing to obtain ANY verification for any of these various technologies was incompetence.
There is an old grainy video of her takeoff on that leg of the trip that shows a puff of smoke coming from underneath the plane, apparently corresponding to damage to the receiving antenna. That would explain why she apparently could not receive subsequent voice transmissions.
Yeah, this is the one 'easy' mistake that had me shaking my head. Radio check after take-off given the stakes seems vital. I am surprised no one suggested it.
Doesn't matter. What matters is their refusal to abort the mission and return to the airfield once they figured out nobody was responding to them. This was very easy to confirm simply by talking to the departure airport over their chosen frequency before leaving the area. Failing to obtain a radio fix at 51% fuel remaining was a serious point of no return, where they could easily have turned back and landed safely.
@@mrfahrenheit677 That was my assumption but I figured anyone really familiar with radios would be familiar with how easy it is for them to not be working properly -- maybe radios were just built way better back then?
When ego meets amateurism. This reminds me of a certain submarine company. The utter recklessness of relying on very precise communications between parties without ever receiving confirmation from said parties is absolutely damning. With people like this, it's never a matter of whether, but when they end up dying and killing others alongside them.
Hertz: I do not think that the wireless waves I have discovered will have any practical applications. Other scientists and engineers: Thank you for the discovery we'll take it from here.
This is the entirety of science lol, im sure fourier could never have known the fourier transform would be used to solve quantum mechanical problems, a problem which he could not even fathom
Have you heard what really happened? That she flew into the Bermuda triangle and flew through a portal into the land of Gielinor where she died attempting to get a firecape?
@@Tyler-z8r 1) A.E.'s messages got ignored by men in power (US Navy) because they were jealous 2) A.E.'s ignored advices from experts and made mistakes, but in mechanical - not navigational ones.
@@Tyler-z8r She was abducted by aliens who took her to another quadrant and populated a planet with human slaves. Those slaves had a rebellion and took over. Then later on, Captain Janeway met Amelia on that planet.
She had a truly bad bad record of flying. she was a celebrity 1st, "Pilot" close second. Just glad she didn't let her ego kill more than 2 people. credit for having the balls to do all this, sure, but some people just cannot get the hang of whatever profession they want to master. its the ones that recognize they are likely much better at something else that get way ahead.
Amelia Earhart believed that dead reckoning navigation was a pseudoscience. She thought of it like it was astrology. She simply did not believe that it was possible to accurately compute a course using maps and math. She was a highly unintelligent glory hound. Which of course made her an awful pilot.
@@powderslinger5968 haha didn't know that. makes sense though. couldn't be bothered to study how here radios worked is bad enough. this sheds some light.
@@powderslinger5968 You have no idea what you are talking about. If dead reckoning were so great why was GPS invented? Dead reckoning is crap over the distance Earhart wanted to go, combine that with unknown/changing wind speeds and disaster is programmed. Celestial navigation requires the absence of clouds, and radio navigation requires a working radio.
I’m no pilot or radio expert so I can’t pretend I would’ve succeeded on this journey, but just from what you’re telling us, she was waaay too overconfident in her journey. First of all, she leaves without making sure the checkpoints received her telegrams, then, again, she leaves without having backups of her equipments, she also leaves without asking advice and having actually received the answers from a team of experts, then, she doesn’t test the equipment after takeoff (she would’ve realized voice didn’t work and flown back), and then before the halfway point, she could’ve flown back telling herself that she STILL didn’t make contact and that something was seriously wrong, but she didn’t, she just kept going like a fool hoping for the best. All the things I mentioned above, any clueless person could have thought about those, even 100 years ago, and even without having any knowledge in navigation, piloting, radio or physics. It’s unfortunate for her, but it was her journey, it’s futile to accuse any other human of doing something incorrectly, because at the end of the day, it was her life that was at stake and she was the ONLY person that had to make sure at 100% that all of her backup plans were solid even in the event of any human or equipment failure.
>> then, she doesn’t test the equipment after takeoff exactly my idea. If she had properly tested her equipment she would not even have reached the shores of the Pacific, instead turned around. But her death made her famous, no death no video.
Here before the title and thumbnail change. "Amelia Earhart’s Final Flight - And One Thing That Could Have Saved Her" Edit - Now it's "How Physics Doomed Amelia Earhart" and it's on it's third thumbnail Edit - Another small change again to "The Physics That Doomed Amelia Earhart"
It's amazing to me how these channels can work on a video for months but have no confidence in the title at all. It's like they have more faith in the algorithm than they do in their own creativity, even though no one has any clue how the algorithm actually works.
@@LimeyLassen Its because they have no idea how the algorithm works that they have to try several different titles and thumbnails to see which one works best.
What immediately got my attention was the "cans of tomato juice" because veritasium talked about it in a previous video being one of the things that taste good at altitude!
I once launched a jet from the deck of a US Navy aircraft carrier in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and flew away at high altitude for about 90 minutes before we had to turn around to find the ship and land on it. We never saw any sign of land for all that time. I was left with an awesome feeling of how vast the oceans are, and how tiny we are in comparison. I can easily imagine the desperation of Amelia Earhart flying low and slow over the ocean with such primitive radio and navigation equipment.
was not qualified to fly the Fokker aircraft. She was not a mechanic. She had no experience flying multi- engined aircraft or sea planes, nor was she was qualified to fly instruments. She lacked oceanic navigation skills.
I'm a french student in physics, passionnate of aviation, and I'm learning english at the same time, and this video is so clear. It's very understandable, and extremely interesting subject. Thanks a lot for this video. I'm wainting future videos with impatience.
Hubris was what ultimately got her killed. Had she tried to replace Capt. Manning with someone else who could assists with radios and navigation, she could have safely finished her journey. Even today in highly automated commercial airplane cockpits with all modern guidance systems, for long journeys there will be a 3 person crew. That she attempted to circumnavigate the world as a two person crew is beyond reckless.
The 750m v 750kh is so much like the cm v inches errors that are still reported today for intercontinental projects. And it seems very much a case of people not feeling able to challenge her - for goodness sake she told Roosevelt to get an airstrip ready for her, not for any other purpose.
Aviation was basically hotshots taking incredible risks and losing back then too, the calm collected and methodical pilots of today is totally different
Well, the thing is, we don't know why Captain Manning left, you're buying that she "kicked him off", but it could very well mean that he didn't trust the inverse route (leaving the harder and most challenging part last with full pressure of success) or any other reason (like not wanting to risk his life after a near death experience). There was no such thing as 3 person cockpit in the 1930s though, you're being anachronistic in your judgment.
Well they did have less weight this way. Wasn't one pilot one navigator rather common then? Even smaller to mid sized WW2 planes only had two seats, even for Night and Naval flight.
she just became stubborn, fired her best navigator and blamed crash on him, when he was the one who saved them, and then thought she could handle radio signals on her own.... stubborness took over her consciousness and when this happens, we have seen many stories of this what happens next
@@jhoughjr1 duh, you never blame the person who eff'd up, WHO DOES THAT, that called accountability. Surely she was a strong independent woman in the time period.
I was just thinking that a lot of the errors here sound like exactly the sort of things in Mentor Pilot videos that get pilots killed. Improper and insufficient preparation and "flying by the seat of the pants" until something goes wrong and not enough redundancy to recover.
Dang. The detail in this video is absolutely wild. Having wheel in the Electra 10-E is incredible. I dont think anyone else would put that much detail in.
Perhaps I'm too timid, but I'm often surprised at the unnecessary risks she took on the most dangerous and difficult leg of her entire journey. I believe she even ditched her life-raft at Lae. Howland Island is also pretty unique among other Pacific islands, as it isn't part of a large atoll, (which are numerous) nor has any terrain that rises more than a few feet above sea level (like many other volcanic islands)--so spotting it from 1,000' MSL was also nearly impossible, without flying within just a few miles from it. The Itasca itself would have been more easily spotted in a way. Plus the typical weather there consists of numerous low-level cumulus clouds, (typical of oceanic low-pressure equatorial areas) that cast shadows that resemble the size and shape of the island itself.
And on top of that she timed it, so she would be looking to land at Howland at night, making visually spotting the island even more impossible. It was a worthy endeavor, but it was incredibly badly planned and executed, she made so many bad decision and assumption, she pretty much set herself up for failure.
@@dfuher968 Yes, very poorly planned and executed... didn't turn around when not receiving any radio responses halfway there, while also encountering overcast clouds most of the way. I believe they planned to use the rising sun and sextant as part of their "landfall procedure". In any case her last transmission was around 10:30am local time, which meant the sun was at too high an angle to provide a very accurate Line of Position. In one of my videos, I demonstrate a Landfall procedure to Howland Island using a setting sun--albeit a little too low an angle due to incalculable atmospheric refraction.
Wow, after listening to you two I would say I'm surprised nobody called the whole thing off, but life experience has taught me someone (or multiple someones) almost certainly tried. Or at least tried to get her to stop tossing vital gear overboard.
Which of course we know now, 90 years later with satellites, air recon and google earth. Not something very many people would have known or let alone even connected back then. I mean dude a decade later, during ww2 the major powers couldnt even figure out why their pilots would dive bomb and some of the pilots wouldnt pull out of the dive at the bottom and just slam into the ground. They had such rudimentary understandings of these things, she was straight up WILD to attempt what she did so early on in airplane tech. But she was the explorer pioneer type and those people drive our society forward
@@dfuher968 No it's well documented that the arrival/landing was due to occur well after sunrise. Slightly alarming that your comment has had 17 up-votes
Great video but I totally disagree with your conclusions. The removal of the aft antenna, the refusal to carry onboard emergency life raft, water, food and water rescue equipment to survive at sea, the lack of redundancy of the systems she used, are all extremely reckless. Failures are inevitable and failing to prepare for inevitable failures is what caused her death. That flight should have never been allowed or happened considering the complete lack of proper preparation for all the risks involved.
Definitely, knowledge and especially responsibility go both ways. If you don't have the expertise or knowledge, then have the responsibility to outsource or relay it to someone else and make it clear what your expectations are from them.
Modern lens, that is not how things were done or worked then. People had faith in themselves and their definition of acceptable risk is far beyond what would be considered acceptable now. For that matter what was acceptable in my own twenties is largely considered a stupid risk now. Going 100's of miles into the back country with no way to communicate only paper maps that were almost 10+ years out of date, and only a basic first aid kit for a 10 day or more. Nothing she did was reckless for the time, a raft and food for being lost at sea after ditching would be marginal at best ask the 10000's of merchant marine sailors who got off their ships into life boats after being torpedoed in WWII but were never found. And she had some redundancy in radio but the old sets were big and heavy, you did not carry 2. SHe prepared as best she thought she could, could she have done more maybe but I doubt it. The failure points were beyond just her, and in the end she did not get the breaks.
Bad take. As mentioned several times in the video, she was trying to minimize dead weight as much as possible. Bringing a life raft and emergency supplies is for naught since even needing to use it already assumes you are dead, just delaying the inevitable. She was a visionary, and extremely motivated, but this video laid out exactly why her demise happened, none of which related to your points.
Your videos usually have a good bit of great info. That one was 35 minutes of amazing information. Thank you, I didn't have a clue about all the limitations of navigation at the time of her flight.
Sounds like piss poor planning, preparation and coordination. Earhart was famous for lack of preparation. Flying over the pacific without a life raft was mindbogglingly irresponsible (read that stupid).
i agree with the comment piss poor and reckless . i mean the radio being critical and she doesn't know how it works or what frequencies to use when both their lives depended on it. wow
A truly idiotic comment. The Electra was a tiny flying gas station. There was literally no room for anything other than "more gas". This wasn't some sort of huge plane with tons of room for rafts & parachutes & such. Trying to make it one would have REDUCED the odds, not increased them, because she'd have had even less time to find Howland Island.
If you enjoyed this video and want to go deeper, you'll find an exclusive bonus video on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/amelia-earhart-116754675
I feel it was probably arrogance, going without a radio operator, not testing and making all sorts of radio operation errors was a sure way to die in a place where there was no other option but to land using radio signals
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My introverted friend Emily was invited to our Halloween party. She dressed up as Amelia Earhart, sent us all a photo and said she’s on her way, and then never showed up. Truly iconic.
Lol that sounds like a great idea 😂
😭
i should not laugh on this😭
this never happened
Amazing 😂
If you ever feel forgotten, just remember there was another person in the plane when Amelia Earhart went missing (Fred Noonan).
Right!? I didn't even realize he was with! I used to think she was alone.
In Apollo 11 there were 3 Astronauts and 1 of them is always left out even though he had the most important job of waiting for the 2 that went to the surface all alone. If you don't know who I'm talking about I rest my case.
It's Michael Collins by the way.
He was an experienced airline pilot and expert navigator... but you do see his elbow in some of the animated shots.
Yeah, and he had an amazing career and history of his own.
🤣🤣
The sheer amount of veritasium content released recently is a true blessing
They are freaky 😲
All thanks to AI, I think he probably outsources everything to a Chinese and Indian video editing sweatshop and he usually stands in a studio and the entire environment in the back is cgi including the grass lands he is standing on cuz all those places he gets to access is insane cuz no one can enter those places but how him lol something to think.
He's fooling a lot of people.
Thankfully an old head like me who is 45 yrs old can spot these classic tactics 😊
@@muazunais2378 Take your meds
yeah less than a week since last upload
@@muazunais2378 1/10 trolling attempt. You made it WAY too obvious.
Man, veritasium has become one of the best youtube channels on youtube period. The quality and length of these documentaries are just top tier.
It's ok. Calm down.
Lemmino
@@ZackScriven Lemmino when he was on his prime
One of the best youtube chanels on youtube eh?
@@Carguylogan Yo what does the comment say?
I have seen SO MANY Earhart documentaries over the years. I have never seen one that painted so clear a picture of what went wrong. Fantastic job.
Well yea, they were there.
If the Pacific Ocean had a world trade centre, Amelia woulda found a way to crash into it
@@jotrutchhahaha well if you consider flying a plane was relatively new still
And being a female pilot she definitely would have backed into after the First strike
right? i remember when i was young watching documentary about here. from what i watched i thought she got missing because she didn't have enough fuel. i was thinking to myself why would anyone do that? it was bad and stupid documentary it only focusd on that she is a woman pilot
great one !!
One word: preparedness. If you want a fantastic example of preparedness, look at how Amundsen organized his South Pole expedition. Leftover fuel cans were found over 50 years later and were completely full. He marked his supply depots with rows of red flags for 1200 m in _each_ direction (E and W as he was travelling S and then N on the way back). He got to the 1200 m by taking the largest possible error on navigation, and then doubling it. They had enough food to miss a depot and still make it to the next one. His entire team were expert skiers and dog-sledders, so everyone could do everyone else's job. All this in 1911.
I believe that he didn't bother with (converging)latitude measurements when he got close to the pole - kept it simple. Opposed to Scott calculated both, time and complexity.
Another word: Money
@@herrk.2339 I mean she got the contacts to let runways build on remote islands and move 3 navy warships into position. I doubt money was an issue.
@@jurgenpeters1373 The runway is what made the expedition physically possible, the strategy by Amundsen outlined in the comment above seems to take it from physically possible to a slam dunk. Having two navy ships assisting your journey is very useful, but not that much considering the size of the pacific. The nature of the endeavour makes it a more difficult thing to be prepared for
@@herrk.2339 I haven't looked into it, but at the point where she found a mistake, sent a telegram to one of the ships before the departure but never waited for an acknowledgement (and the correction did indeed not reach the ship in time), wasn't there an element of haste in this? It might be harder to prepare for, but I do think she rushed too quickly into this.
I have a bone to pick with public education. They way Amelia's story was told essentially boiled down to: "she disappeared mysteriously over the Pacific ocean and nobody know what happened". The full story is so much more interesting.
My public education included a filmed dramatization of the actual communications between Itasca and Earhart. It was clear to everyone in the classroom there were radio issues. It was also understood her amateur understanding of radio technology - that there was literally a communication breakdown somewhere. It did not attempt to lay 'blame" or make conclusions - just that during the attempt great effort was put into guiding her flight but through accident or bad luck or the enormity of the challenge with the technology of the era, that it failed. And that she likely had to make a water landing and was probably killed or dead from exposure not long after. Public education typically sucks when it comes to history - I learned far more reading in the library than was ever presented in class - but in the case of Earhart and her disappearance, it got a pretty fair and unusually intesnive treatment for elementary school in the mid 1970's.
We have worked out a lot more of the details since I was in school. And schools are slow to get updates on ALL the things they have to educate upon.
The absolute minutia of every significant historical event is really hard to cover. How detailed you get into what topics also depends on your teacher, school, state, textbook supplier, and other factors.
@@PaulNechifor That's the wrong lesson to take away from this, mate
The curriculum probably doesn't have much room for stories like this, what with all the wars and stuff
As a wildland firefighter I was taught that the cause of almost every single fatality could be traced to a breakdown in communication. The most recent ones all occurred because their radio signals stopped working. The technology has improved but the same risks and challenges still exist and still cause deaths.
Quick, another burning bush meeds saving!
IMHO, the larger factor in this: "Get there itis", a mental issue that has killed many pilots, as evidenced by:
A. Leaving when conditions were less than ideal.
B. Sending VITAL communications to ships about radios frequencies & etc. and not ensuring said communications were received, understood, AND that they made sense.
C. Not turning back when she had a chance, and things were already going wrong.
In other words, she was SO focused on getting there, she just kept blowing of potentially huge issues.
Closely related to "Go Fever" in rocketry.
The fact that she appears to not have been receiving voice communication and did not turn back on such a radio dependent flight is quite remarkable.
It's always good to exercise vital equipment before your life depends on it and part of her radio array had from out point of view shown no capacity to work. Perhaps she didn't expect to receive the weather updates and so didn't know that she was missing them, but the absence of a handshake communication protocol was a clear failure in the plan.
@@cidiousblack2136 Dude, it was 1937. People hadn't worked this stuff out yet. It's flights like this which are the reason we have these procedures today. We learn from others mistakes.
@@qarnos I'm sorry, what? We hadnt figured out the basic logic of "this entire project depends on the radio, we should make sure it works?" Even before ships went terribly wrong, I think we could figure out "the sailboat trip I set up needs a sail."
@@qarnos Nah mate. You know what you don't know and plan for it. In this instance, she did not know what she did not know and went ahead anyway. Her hubris or arrogance was astounding.
I'm amazed at how ill-prepared the expedition to cross the Pacific was. Amelia Earhart certainly had ambition and bravery, but it seems she was seriously lacking in her understanding of risk and how to mitigate that risk with redundancies. Instead of resolving uncertainties and potential issues before takeoff, she just hoped for the best.
It had worked out before, so she thought shes doing good enough.
She was brave and everything, but her behaviour seems incredibly stupid. It blows my mind how you can go on a journey like that and be lacking this amount of certanity and understanding...
It's common when you make mistakes but get away with them. You start to belive that it always be that way or even that you are special. It's even worse if other people praise you for your acheivments and bravery.
@@cyrkielnetwork The problem with complacency is that it DOESN'T get you every time. Also it's crazy that she didn't check her equipmet once in the air after takeoff.
We must remember that aviation in the 1930s was an ENTIRELY different beast than what we know today. Obviously in equiment and knowledge, but even more important in mentality. Today it is the best regulated, best trained and best controlled sector short of nuclear technology. There is an in depth investigation into ANY relevant accident or almost accident with recommendations published to reach everyone. Every failure has been analysed, chewed through by multiple experts.
And even then, we have tragic accidents like Air France 447. A situation where a minor malfunction combined with misinterpretation leads to a desaster and the death of hundreds of people. That was just 15 years ago.
In an era where communication was a challenge under the best conditions, technology often unreliable and understood by very few, training scarce and daring counted for much it is perfectly understandable how Earhart ended up with her plan. Nobody of her peers would have acted much differently.
I sailed in the US Navy as a Radioman/IT for 25 years and then 5 years on commercial ships. An old hand on my first commercial ship told me "You get careless out here, danger will find you". He was correct about sailing and life in general.
Complacency. It’s so so easy to relax when you didn’t die last time.
"Luck favors the prepared" - Edna Mode
Yep, that's why mostly highly experienced professionals are KIA...
I never considered how complex radio communication was back then, having multiple antennas tuned to different frequencies. I grew up on video games that have a map marker to the destination. I've always wondered if modern planes have something similar to that because they use GPS. Is flying today as simple as portrayed in the video games? Just point your nose to the map marker?
That is true in many fields. If you are surrounded by danger, you will eventually stop seeing it. I am a chemistry teacher and handling dangerous chemicals on a daily bases makes you careless. You need to constantly remind yourself that the safety measures are necessary, because if something goes wrong, even if it is unlikely, the results could be devastating.
This was the absolute best documentary on Amelia Earhart's final flight that I've ever seen. Despite seeing dozens of depictions of the flight over the years, none of the radio mistakes/malfunctions were ever explained. Most of the documentaries wanted to focus on the conspiracy theories instead of the science. The science is infinitely more interesting. Thank you for this!
Only now years later do we realize what a waste of time discovery channel was :)
@@PRH123everyone seems to forget the number one reason for emilias crash was because shes a woman 😅
@@Machoman50ta Doesn’t stand up to analysis, financier and organizer was Palmer Putnam, navigator and radio operator was Fred Noonan. Incomplete preparation was the culprit.
@@PRH123 aka being a woman thank you for agreeing my goy
This story is a chilling reminder of how small errors can cascade into tragedy, especially in high-stakes situations. It makes you think about all the "what ifs" and how important clear communication and shared responsibility are. RIP Amelia Earhart.
We call it the "swiss cheese effect" in aviation (and probably lots of other places). Sometimes the mistake makes it through all the holes and doesn't get stopped by the cheese, and that's when there's an accident.
SMALL errors? And she stacked up a whole slew of large risks on top. The possibility of the outcome realized was predictable, at some fairly high percentage.
@dannymaxx510 I have only heard the Swiss cheese effect in discussions about aviation safety, but I bet it is a common engineering term too. I just started to think about the Therac-25 incident
@@savagesarethebest7251 Only on over lightened components.
Yeah, like, what if she'd gotten another radio operator to fill in.
The hands on radio demonstration really helped me understand what all the documentaries on this subject have always described. Thank you!
+
I wondered how direction trackers worked, and that demonstration was great.
what part of the video do you refer to with your comment?
@@Xevo234like 16:00 - 20:00
We still use these systems in modern aircraft today
"When attempting any challenging endeavor, you need someone with the right knowledge who will also take responsibility for getting things right." This is so true. Too many projects fail due to unknowledgeable people in charge or knowledgeable people not taking enough responsibilities.
@@ben-z similarly her grandson Dale didn't know not to hit the wall at Daytona in his NASCAR
FSD
Simple, people with the right knowledge don't want to get blamed, they think it's not their problem, better someone else to take the responsibility.
Yah the knowledgeable people are walked over by unknowledgeable people because of nepotism,wokeism and the sort. So guess what, the knowledgeable people give up and watch the disaster happen.
One can only speculate why the navel officer didn’t take responsibility for her, but one can imagine her personality and connections made it impossible
Well Done! You got this 100% correct! Even at medium wave, you get both ground wave and sky wave propagation, and it gets VERY tricky at dusk and dawn. You can try this at home with a portable AM radio. It helps to set the radio on a "lazy Susan" with the bearings on a piece of paper sitting under the lazy Susan, so you can "steer" it and take bearings. This is a fun "kitchen table activity" to do with kids by the way. I must add here, that each time the HF signal "bounces," it changes its polarity. "Sense" antennas quite frankly just don't work very well. In my experience, I have never trusted them and instead find it best to take SEVERAL bearings from several known locations to get the best fix. LF has its problems, too. But nothing like HF. I agree that if she would have just stuck with the trailing antenna, she would have had a much better chance. I did not know that they weren't using GMT universally at the time as we certainly do now (actually, it's UCT and not GMT these days, but the point is well...on point! We STILL throw around meters and frequency these days. Generally, when we speak in terms of meters, we just mean a general BAND of frequencies, and not a SPECIFIC frequency. 6 MHz range still carries a bit better at night as opposed to day. The 7 MHz is really the best for 24 hour coverage, but still reaching much greater distances at night. You might further expand on the radio amateurs that heard her transmissions which were called "hoaxes" but were likely not. (This also happened to an Irish Ham who certainly did intercept TITANIC'S signal in 1912 by the way.) FINALLY, you might also do a video on the B-24 "Lady be Good" found in the Libyan Desert, a "classic" case of "reading the back of the loop." Artifacts, even including the navigators sheet and tactical call signs (for if damaged but CAN make it back to base as opposed to "CANNOT" make it back to base, etc.) are on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, along with recovered artifacts. I also hate to say this, but she represents the dividing line from barnstormer to avaitor. She was a little of both. And the public was still at the "wow" stage on both aviation AND radio. It was all still "magic." And propagation was way less understood. It's also IMPORTANT to know that propagation is STILL not completely understood even today. All the Best! 73 DE W8LV Bill
As a pilot who's been lost before as well as one who's flown over large bodies of water in single engine aircraft, I have at least a basic understanding of just how challenging what she attempted was and how your mind can start to run away with incorrect or fatalistic assumptions if not trained or rested properly. My heart sank for her as the story progressed. She had a lot of odds stacked against her and she has my deepest sympathy and respect.
Agree, the Pacific is vast, the understanding of radio waves before WW 2 was limited as was the equipment. Much was learned during WW 2. Dad spent his adult life flying in the Canadian Arctic he was a very good navigator he could find the trappers cabin at night on the vast tundra, lake shore, or where it was.
As a student pilot, I kept getting both amazed and mortified more and more about what early aviators had to do to find their way.
In a more amusing note, while VORs are going out of fashion in lieu of GPS, they're not THAT different than what they had finding the dips in signal with their loop antenna.
About 20 years ago in my country, a 737-300 lost their navigation and communication (according to national transportation safety board, both device was malfunctioned) in the middle of sea. The pilot decided to turn to the right which according to map, land should be somewhere to the right. But they could only guessed since they had no devices to measure how much degree they were turning. Their only hope was they could spot a land then try to figure from the land features to guess where they were at. They ended up landing on small airport around 800 kilometer away from their origin and destination.
She put this odds in place herself
@@noisycarlos VORs are much more advanced than what they were using. That is the difference--a very significant difference.
Being an ex airline pilot, who flew across the Pacific regularly, I found the presentation utterly fascinating, thank you! 🙏🏻
You're not an ex airline pilot.
@@cx3622 How can you be so sure? I’ve seen rarer circumstances
I read this in a very sophisticated British accent. Like a Butler accent
@@cx3622I agree, once a pilot, always a pilot.
"Joe Bullwinkle" sounds like the name of a dominant gay man in adult entertainment.
Noonan the Navigator was not sitting beside her in the cockpit.
He was actually sitting behind her with a large fuel tank between them...they used a fishing line with pulleys to send notes with navigation numbers and fuel burn rates between each other
Typical backseat driver trying to man-splain a map to her.
Imagine the last note Noonan must've passed to Earhart...
"Empty"
@@ccengineer5902i bet you it's going to be a harsher word if i knew i was going to die
Sometimes he was back there and sometimes he was right beside her. Either way, they had to pass notes.
@@noahway13Please say this is satire
A nice reminder why redundancy is the number one rule for NASA.
Not just NASA, but yup.
And number 2. 😁
@@robthaham3408 😂
Thats why they have killed more crews than anu other space agency
@@Semystic wait till we bring out the triple redundancy systems
The last message of the video was truly a powerful one. As an engineer, it resonated with me. You have to have proper knowledge to take on the responsibility.
Get it. Resonated.
Amen from another engineer. Knowledge seems to be in good supply. Responsibility seems to have fallen off. But to be fair, it seems that taking a stand for engineers is a greater risk than in days gone by. Just seems so to me.
@@mrcat5508😊
@@mrcat5508As an amateur radio operator, it resonated with me too.
Clearly you were on the same wavelength as the message
I wonder what Manning's private thoughts may have been after the flight went missing? "Whew, glad I didn't go I thought this might have happened." Or, "Had I gone, this never would have happened." I suppose he was interviewed, and someone here may have read something about what he may have said, if any thing.
IMO, it seems like he left the mission because he knew there were flaws in the plan, and perhaps Earhardt wasn't willing to listen to him about it? Either way, after the previous crash which he'd been in, he was probably thinking "I'm not surprised"...
Edit to clarify this is my opinion not something I've read.
She probably got rid of the one antenna that does Morse code against his wishes and he decided it ain’t worth it
@@ExhaustedOwl it is your guess
@@deehaws4334 It's a fairly well educated guess. If I were in a car wreck with someone I would certainly never let them drive me anywhere again. Doubly so for an airplane. Airplane problems may occur less frequently, but when problems do occur it's fairly rare that one simply walks away from the incident unharmed.
Her preparation was clearly lacking and she was taking unnecessary risks with her and her crew's life, he clearly cottoned on to her recklessness and bailed before she got him killed.
It's not just one factor that causes a plane crash. it's a chain of errors that ultimately leads to the accident. Amelia Earhart is not the only example of this pattern.
Vertitasium must have hired so much (many) more people recently, the amount of videos recently at this production quality is astonishing
there's an open job listing for Veritasium for a writer/researcher that's been up for a few months now
I don't like correcting people's grammar online but it's *many, not much.
*many more people
AI bro
@@musafirgauravv AI must have been gotten really good to umm... what did the AI do again, can you elaborate?? If it's done the whole thing it certainly wouldn't look this good at the current level of AI; if they just did the animation well I've got bad news for you buddy, 3Blue1Brown did a video on how to make these style of animations using Manib(m). Nevertheless, I still wanna know what you meant when you said it was made by AI
@@matercan5649 Empty vessels make the most noise, hence why they can't back up their statement.
9:18 - God could you imagine discovering you think will be absolutely pointless, only for it to essentially redefine the course of humanity. To think, radio waves were literally the impetus for Radio, Television, eventually Wifi and Cellphone signals. It potentially altered the course of WW2. Hertz was so incredibly humble for how monumental this discovery was.
He was looking for radio waves because Maxwell had predicted a world of electromagnetic waves beyond those already known
@@otterlyso As with almost everything we discover, they're always standing on the shoulders of giants. I'll never discount how important the discoveries of those that come before us were and still are.
At least he got a car rental business out of the deal! 🙃😇🤣
Amazing, isn't it? Although you can see where he was coming from. Tiny sparks you could only see under a microscope? And with the emitter super close by? Yeah, what do you do with that? It's mind-boggling to think that despite the square-cube law we can use these same waves to communicate with spacecraft outside our solar system and even see the very beginning of the universe!
I mean, light and sound were always available as wireless communication methods, so...
I'm assuming he didn't know about the atmosphere being a mirror to radio waves. How could he have predicted any usecase?
Failing to fix her position with the USS Ontario was her BINGO fuel moment. The fact that she did not return to her departure point but instead proceeded on is proof enough of Manning's doubt about her airmanship and decision making.
Woman driver.
Right. And no: gender doesn't have anything to do with that.
Doubt of her could have led to that decision, if the people around you expect you to fail then you're going to be determined not to
the mirage of global fame must be so powerful... few of us can really comprehend its impact on one's actions and decisions... history is full of examples of 'silly' decisions by powerful and skillful individuals who got 'blinded' by this mirage. i imagine the feeling to be intoxicating, a form of inebriation capable of twisting realities.
as expected some comments refer to her abilities as a woman but some great worriers led entire armies on futile paths (against the pleads of other experienced worriers) just to 'prove a point' or 'make history'.
She didn't take the right equipment and had the chance to notice.
Thank you for saying that the radio waves are “effectively” reflected off the ionosphere. That attention to detail is appreciated.
More "chewed up and spat back" ?
@@rinzler9775 I mean, I understand it to be closer to refraction than reflection... it's complicated.
I still have a lot of respect for Earhart and what she accomplished. But it is shocking how sloppy she was about such critical communication issues. Maybe she was just used to either being over land or flying over oceans but knowing that a huge continent would eventually appear even if she was off course. But trying that over the largest expanse of water on Earth was downright crazy.
And a LOT of other things. Yes, she was a bit sporty.
@@MrJdseniorI feel like you have to be to try something like that. People at the frontier are a little nuts. Imagine being the first person to strap themselves to an ICBM and orbit the earth? Imagine being the first person to make it to mars? There’s always the risk of death. There’s a reason the first astronauts were fighter pilots and test pilots
@@berengerchristy6256Of course, you need to have a certain level of risk taking in order to try this, but the smart ones do everything they can to reduce the inherent risk, control for the variables that they can to give the best possible chance of success.
@@berengerchristy6256 there's always risks for any great historical achievement. However, sometimes there's completely UNNECESSARY risks, and completely stupid decision making (even based on the limitations of the time); that Amelia demonstrated on the most dangerous leg of her journey.
Hitting a tiny island in the middle of he biggest ocean in the world would seem to be daunting enough for her to take a few extra precautions. I think she was always going to push the envelope until it pushed back.
It's clearly not physics that doomed her but lack of preparation and communication with the people that were leading her to her destination.
No, it was her hubris
@@mosubekore78 no, it was mistakes of many peopel involved. she even asked wether her suggested frequency was good for transmission, and noone bothered to correct her. she certainly wasnt the only technician/engineer working on the craft, such issues should have been brought up beforehand. if not, then theres another mistake of not involving enough engineers.
@@dankrigby5621It wasn't THEIR adventure. It was hers.
@@dankrigby5621 No, it was her incompetence. Nobody is responsible except herself for her pursuit (and failure) of excitement.
Thompson didn't want to mansplain a strong independent woman. Can't blame him.
Fun fact: The Electra originally had a very different tail, until a young guy told the chief designer the plane would be unstable like that. The young guy turned out to be right, and got to running the extra wind-tunnel tests to re-design the tail. His name? Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, and he'd go on to heading development on the first US jet-fighter (P-80), the U-2, and the SR-71, and his division of Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin) would create the idea of a Skunkworks division and the first stealth-plane - the F-117. The hypersonic test-plane "SR-72 Darkstar" in Top Gun: Maverick was designed with the support of Skunkworks, and if you look close you see on the tail the traditional skunk logo.
how do u know this man
@@dumbahhpersonI was also skeptical but I just went a searchin in the internets and can confirm the parts about the “Model 10 Electra”. Didn’t care to confirm anything about the Mavrick movie but the career part was true and very impressive
His name? Albert Einstein
That sounds very Kelly Johnson: later in life someone else at Lockheed was known to say of him "that damn Swede can see air." He was a proper legend of aircraft design.
@@dumbahhperson What can I say, I'm a big nerd, and I like seeing connections
41 here, been hearing about this for years. never has it ben explained so clear and concise. Its amazing what the entire story and truth can do. Absolutely awesome video of this story.
Side note, I'm a utility pipe line locator, your examples helped me finish understanding visually what I am doing. I use the pipehorn HL800.
Industry I worked in for many years, we always trained, "Okay, but what do you do if THAT doesn't work.... and if THAT doesn't work? What if..." Seems like she relied on things working just right and didn't really have any backup plan.
Not entirely true. The video mentions they had dead reckoning, celestial navigation, and multiple radio systems. They had backup plans, but they didn't do the due diligence to ensure each plan was fully baked and operable, that all parties involved were well informed and prepared.
@@error.418 I think celestial navigation is a bit overrated in aircraft. At the start of WW2, the RAF bombers could barely find the right city to bomb using celestial and dead reckoning, in fact they often found the wrong city. In fact Switzerland was bombed several times, and that's not even the right country.
@@dougerrohmer Oh I'm making no comment as to what is viable, just that they did have multiple methods. I also have no clue if it's reasonable to compare Noonan's abilities with those of WW2 bomber pilots.
I think it's very much a sign of the times. Just look at workplace death rates throughout the last century. Today, we do what you say, having backups for backups. Back then, "try not to die" was sort of the equivalent of current OSHA standards.
And @error.418, having a backup plan that isn't tested and confirmed is virtually the same as not having a backup plan. It's the difference between going on a summer camping trip and bringing jackets vs. saying "ah, it shouldn't rain I think"
Look up Prof Reason Swiss Cheese model of accident prevention. At every event of the story, I hear how she slipped thru another hole in the Swiss Cheese. But this was in the early days of aviation and radio. Accident investigators note all the mistakes they can find and try to write regulations to avoid other accidents. As they say, the regulation rules are written in blood. Lookup Mentour channel, Gimli Glider episode.
This is legitimately one of your best videos yet. Such a good balance of science and stakes with a story that is so infamous.
I just started watching this channel about a day or two ago and it’s already been off to a good start
7:54 dude uses math and star charts to navigate the globe, meanwhile i cant make it to walmart across town without my gps
I think you’d manage to use the stars to map your way to Walmart if that were the only possible way to reach it. Necessity brings out the best of us.
@@ninadgadre3934 you may be right!
@@ninadgadre3934 Hmm... 🤔 But how about using the star chart on a cloudy night... 😂
Yeah he failed though
Neither could he apparently.
When they were explaining that I was like hell no bro.. just sounds like so much could go wrong.
Doing those analogue navigation techniques by hand is nothing short of incredible
Wrong frequency, wrong wind speed, wrong antenna. This is what regular people are really like when there's no SOP in place, with chaos instead of order. For harder projects like Apollo, it wouldn't have been remotely plausible with this level of inaccuracy.
Well Apollo had hundreds of people with extremely specialized knowledge for every little component of the mission.
So yeah, no lol rocket science/astrophysics is definitely not something where you can "just wing it" and expect success.
Swiss cheese model in full effect
Well space program wasnt ran by a broad with something to prove
@@Tyler-z8r Buncha young White guys.
@@badcornflakes6374Enlighten me on this, what’s this Swiss cheese model?
All my life I had no clue how radio signals work. Your instruction has explained it in a way I can follow. Bravo to you and thank you.
I knew I would be sad, but I didn't think I would get this angry at the lack of preparation on Earhart's part. I always figured it was just adventurism hitting the limit of the technology. But I can't understand not having complete understanding of vital equipment and complete synchrony with the people you relied on for such a bold journey.
That face after saying Hertz couldn't see what radio waves could be used for was priceless (as I'm watching this over wifi with wireless headphones sitting next to a cell phone and a handheld 2-way).
Lol - one of the biggest things that changed the world.
Another perfect example of the Swiss Cheese Model: how a number of individual mistakes could never have a significant impact, a multitude combined end in a catastrophe.
This crash really was a “perfect storm” of various small systems going wrong
Absolutely. It’s never one single thing.
Some of the swiss cheese holes were about as big as the cheese itself though...
I can smell the Mentour Pilot on you ;)
@@SkyborneVisionsexactly
As a retired broadcast engineer after 40 years in the industry and an Amateur Radio Operator for over 45 years, in a short explanation he did not too bad. One must take into account the year which determines what technology was available. The differences between night and day propagation on the different frequencies. The level of experience of the operators. It is truly complicated.
I mean doing all such calculation needed a genius person beside his domain knowledge.
It's hard to imagine any commercial radio operator in 1937 not understanding Morse code. I'm sure the nuances of radio propagation was beyond them.
The amount of budgeting and resources they were willing to spend to aid her on the trip really shows just how different the world was in terms of aviation.
Imagine asking three US naval ships to just wait for you and help with navigation nowadays.
There was much interest in these accomplishments at that time. For military purposes. This was also a unique training situation for the crew.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson described the difference between JFK's "we will put a man on the moon before the end of the decade" (i.e. USA will land on the moon under MY watch), and Obama's "we will reach Mars in 20 years" (aka a Mars mission under a future, unnamed president and a largely imaginary budget to be decided later)
He then said political will is as necessary as scientific knowledge when it comes to making large scale progress
It's more a reflection of someone with the right connections able to amass more resources then their abilities should otherwise allow. For more modern day examples see Elizabeth Holmes or Richard Stockton.
@@DavidKiviat Billionaire class gonna billionaire. We've seen the submarine crush itself and Bezos reaching into space.
@@DavidKiviat That is very true as well. It’s certainly a component to it here; likely more than was explained in the video.
I’d assume it has to take more than just aviation interest to organise this, but I’m not exactly familiar with who Earhart was socially. I assume she wasn’t a multi millionaire but she was clearly a celebrity of some significant calibre, since it doesn’t exactly immediately appear directly similar to the Oceangate fiasco.
One of the very best analysis of this mystery. First time I've heard of the USCG internal issues.... again, really great and well produced piece. Thank you.
I genuinely do not understand how the Veritasium team has managed to keep up even a small fraction of their editorial quality while pumping out so many of these videos. It's incredible.
Money. It's a company at this point.
Its a guy who made lots of money and spends them to hire competent workers. Nothing unusual. Why people think its weird???
@@neutronshiva2498 I don't need you to whiteknight for me, don't worry.
@@neutronshiva2498 I don't need you to whiteknight for me, don't worry.
amount of miscommunication and small errors is mindboggling, but understandable for the times and how difficult it was to properly communicate across distances.
Especially given it was relatively new technology for the time.
I wouldn't call it mind boggling.
Communication wasn't everywhere, and was "primitive" today.
The margin for error was small, and this was a VERY risky trip from start.
Just over confident and adrenaline fueled.
Especially with poor planning and recklessness. She was an accident waiting to happen
@@volvo09golden age of radio
Just goes to show, wimmen shouldn't fly. I say that with love.
I'm a pilot. I've been flying for 8 years. I've studied sense and loop antennas. I've taught other pilots about sense and loop antennas. And I've never understood them as well as I do now! Your videos are great, thank you for your dedication and effort.
Sounds like you were unqualified for 8 years.
@@clinch4402
No, he didn't say he didn't understand or know how to USE these systems; he simply said that he never understood them BETTER than after watching this. That doesn't make him unqualified to fly, or use them. There is always more to know about the technology we use every day, whether or not the knowledge we gain is theoretical or practical.
This is how we become better at what we do. No one starts out - or uses technology effectively for many years - knowing EVERYTHING about the many forms of technology used in aviation, or any other technical endeavor.
Are you an unqualified driver because you don't understand every intricacy of how and why the hydraulic braking system in the car you drive works?
If you don't (or pick any other critical system you have used/are using), does this make you 'unqualified' to operate it?
If this were so, we would have NO astronauts, drivers, pilots, or any other people to operate any machine or system in the world.
By your metric, how many things are YOU unqualified to operate, that you DO operate?
What killed her was people giving a number with no units attached and expecting to be understood. And people hearing a number with no units attached and thinking they know what it means. This applies to the radio wavelength/frequency and to the time without timezone.
It is still commonly believed that Earhart was an excellent pilot. However, other pilots who had watched her fly were quite critical of her for her lack of skill and knowledge. Other women pilots who had flown in races against her described her sloppy flying to include problems taking off and landing. At the end of one cross country race, she bounced so far down the runway that spectators thought she was going to crash at the end of the field. The crash in Hawaii was another example of these shortcomings. Her and Noonan's deaths were a direct result of her believing her own publicity and her hubris.
She had 400 hours of flight time. The average pilot needs about 1500 to be considered experienced enough to start flying for airlines. She fancied herself a veteran but she had the same experience as a student. You need 250 hours to graduate from commercial pilot school and 40 to be given a private pilot license.
@@blackkennedy3966 After extensive training program and certification that is. At at the time both were pretty much nonexistent, or at least nowhere near as good as modern ones. The best you could get was education in military schools, and even that was extremely lackluster AT ITS TIME, the only real way to get to know the aircraft at any decent level was practise and common sense combined.
Exactly for all that I gathered from this video was that she was a shitty pilot but saying this only get's you hate because feminism
Other people who worked with her described her as "incompetent" so I doubt flight hours would have made much difference.
If she had only 400 hours that sort of tells me she could fly but not deal with emergencies or less than perfect scenarios. The Hawaii incident could have been the result of a crosswind and not having good aileron correction. Flying is so much more than simply straight and level flight. All those skills for non ideal conditions are learned over thousands of hours
Hey thank you guys. I did my first ever Research paper on this exact topic in the late 90's. at the time No one really knew what happend and the military didnt share information. thanks for completing something i been tring to look in to for 30 years
My grandpa was a radio operator in WWII and a passionate aviation fan, and I took my geeking about those topics from him. I'm sure he would have loved this video as much as I did. Thank you Veritasium.
This video made me appreciate even more having a device that fits in my pocket and can tell me precisely where on Earth I am. Not knowing about radio waves nor stars.
We do tend to forget about it!
That was a fun afternoon. The receiver is one I built about 8 years ago using a design by Nick Roethe DF1FO. This video only includes audio from one ear - the other ear has a "whoopee" tone that makes it much easier to DF, but Earhart didn't have that
Thanks for your help Clifford!
When the SDR was turned on I was thinking huh, didn't know Derek was a ham! Then you popped up. It was a really good demo!
Taking responsibility is a risk-taking behaviour. I remember when on a summer job at a power supply manufacturer, I found out an issue with the product that had to be corrected - when boxes were already about to be loaded into the shipping truck. So I said wait, we have to fix this. Later that day, my boss said, it's great that you stopped the shipment, it was a responsible decision. But you should have gone straight to my office, because you did not have the right to stop the shipment. And he was right - I had no such right. I just had the responsibility to pretend I did, because the alternative would be a recall.
Some people are primarily mission-oriented: they want to accomplish the end-goal. Others are more process-oriented, they are motivated to follow the procedures. Aviation is an interesting combination of the two, because following procedures is critical to safety. That means it is very risky to start improvising, and there is a strong requirement to avoid doing it.
There were two key elements that were missing in Earhart's flight: understanding of radio propagation on her part, and a strict, mutually-agreed to, detailed communication plan. Given that there was no possibility to divert, disaster was a distinct possibility. And yet, everyone seemed to have thought "we'll make it - somehow."
Of course, hindsight is 20-20.
Even today, with the most precise and highly calibrated sextants, a position error of two miles is considered extremely good, and 10 miles is more common.
So you are not at an intersection of two lines, unless you drew the lines with sidewalk chalk. Navigators always draw a position circle, called a circle of error. The important question is not "where are we" but rather, "how large is the circle of error?"
Navigators? Is it just not safe to rely on GPS?
GPS truly is a marvel that we all take for granted, myself included. Is it a bad idea to rely on it in at sea?
GPS is more than adequate. Even integrated conditions in the south Indian Ocean the maximum sort of error you might experience would be a range of about 100 m. Typically GPS has you within 1 to 3 m.
OP is talking about navigation without GPS
@@Tyler-z8rGNSS (of which GPS is one such system) uses trilateration to calculate your location - which is not much different to what is discussed in the video but in 3 dimensions instead of 2. Think of it as plotting multiple spheres, your location is most likely within the area they all overlap.
As such, the accuracy and precision (please note, they're not the same thing) is still within a certain radius. Both will likely improve with more satellites visible to the receiver but there is still a "circle of error" as the OP of this comment said.
Well actually, you typically do not (in my experience) navigate on a chart by using a "circle of error." You navigate on a chart using either a "fix" or a running fix or estimated and assumed position. Which are all single points. An estimated/assumed position incorporates your idea of vagueness and uncertainty but is nevertheless represented as a single point. I've never seen or used a navigational chart by advancing a series of circles. If you draw a circle on a chart (which navigators do not usually do) then you cannot thereafter advance your position, you are just advancing ever widening circles which is not common and probably does not work. I'm nitpicking here, but since your circle of error is essentially unknowable while underway, navigators do not go around questioning how large their circle of error is, either. Today's sextants give better positions primarily due to better timekeeping devices and better optics. Large sextant position errors -say over two or three miles- is primarily due to being bounced around by waves, or lousy viewing conditions. I'm sure you'd agree. Not that anyone still uses celestial navigation much these days, although you still master it (somewhat) to earn your Coast Guard licenses.
It also helps if you use 3 stars per fix--as that "circle of error" can be more precisely known by the triangle it forms. Of course for Fred, that morning, he was using only the Sun, which didn't tell him if he was north or south of Howland--unless he had a super-precise compass, and precise magnetic variation charts. Performing a "landfall procedure" at 1,000' made it impossible to see the island unless they got within a few miles of it. Sextant errors on aircraft can usually range as a high as a dozen miles. Celestial navigation from an airplane is much more difficult than from a ship.
Kudos to team Veritasium and Derek for bringing an extraordinary content regarding the tragedy of Amelia Earhart. This truly tells you why shouldn't do certain things if you are NOT an expert in that. She should've been prepared well enough for what she has planned.😢
In my mother tongue we have a Thirukkural saying like.... Many small disasters add up to a big one if we are not prepared enough (பீலிபெய் சாகாடும் அச்சிறும் அப்பண்டஞ்
சால மிகுத்துப் பெயின்.
Meaning : With peacock feathers light, you load the wain; Yet, heaped too high, the axle snaps in twain.)
I cant believe I never learned of the specifics of the radio issues. Heartbreaking. Thank you.
That’s because it would make her fallible, or responsible.
That isn’t the prescribed narrative. Same reason we aren’t taught Noonan’s name when we “learn” about Amelia. Same reason nobody ever told you that Marie Curie shares her first Nobel Prize with two men whom she owes her second Prize to.
We are meant to believe these are rogue, superior women, out there sticking it to the man and making the real advancements.
I was underwhelmed when I heard neither Noonan nor Earhart was fluent in Morse code.
Depending on voice only, in those conditions, in that era, for two way communication? That was ill prepared.
It's feels good when Derek says more about them at the end of the "show" and not "video"
I thought so too..but then an advert still comes on in another minute
What difference does it make?
@@paulelderson934 self respect, feelings of grandeur and self importance
Except he did say "video".
"This video is sponsored by KiwiCo. More about them at the end of the show".
@@paulelderson934 'video' is something less descriptive while 'show' means something broad and continuous
Wow, learned a lot of interesting things from this video. 1. More details about Earheart's disappearance than just "she vanished without a trace." And 2. A whole lot more about old radio communication and equipment. I never understood what that loop antenna was for or the field with the 5 large antennas in it. Didn't know those were primarily for navigation. Very interesting. Thank you.
that one radio man who left the crew must feel remorse & blessed at the same time, because his expertise were really needed
So, my Father worked at Lockheed, from the 60's until he retired (his first project was the L-1011). The lore around the Company was that she wasn't known as a great pilot. Apparently, she was bringing her Electra's back for repair a lot.
Why the other navigator bailed out on going after she could not take off from Hawaii and crashed
Taking off is fairly easy part of flying
Much of the world loves reinforcing women's beliefs in themselves, no matter how true or delusional
@craigdk586, probably over compensation for generations of men believing women are inferior and projecting that mentality. Guilt perhaps.
Independent woman don't need no communicator.
Casual sexism is still alive I see
"When attempting any challenging endeavor, you need someone with the right knowledge, who will also take responsibility for getting things right." - so true.
This is the same effect that allows for polarized light. It’s just operating at much higher frequencies. The elegant parallels among EM phenomena were a big reason I got hooked into electronics engineering.
Im an EE too. The EM field makes everything tick
YES ! You said "elegant parallels"........ I think it is really spooky that very different forms of stored energy eg Kinetic, Magnetic, Electric all seem to follow the same rules.........
Energy of a moving body is = 1/2MassVel(sqd)
Magnetic Energy around an inductor is = 1/2LI(sqd)
Electric Energy in a capacitor is = 1/2CV(sqd)
Yey another plane video. Would love to see more videos on the development of navigation systems for airplanes. Like NDBs, VORs, INS/IRS
It's stunning that neither person on the airplane had enough of an understanding of radio to either properly plan for the use of the equipment prior to the flight or to troubleshoot the issues that developed in-flight. That should have been priority one of the flight crew, as they had a snowball's chance of finding their landing site without radio direction finding.
There was radio operator on the first attempt which ended with a crash. He did not join the second attempt, it is unclear if this was due to other commitments or self-preservation.
Seems incredibly irresponsible.
@@tarnvedra9952he figure out she was a crap pilot
@@tarnvedra9952 yeah he saw her woman driving skills and bailed
@@tarnvedra9952 I'll take a guess that it was the later. One of the crucial skills a sailor has is choosing who to sail with.
I will be sending this to my friends who are getting into ham radio. This is one of the clearest demonstrations of the basic principles of radio waves and equipment I think I've ever seen. Makes it very accessible. Thank you for this.
This radio direction finding demonstration is a BEAUTIFUL explanation and demonstation of one of the simplest, most basic, and most comon methods of radio direction finding in existance. Most now days are higher tech, but use exactly the same ultimate method. As a licenced ham for 30 years, I've built and used several antennas of this type, though now days I prefer to use doppler based methods.
I’ve been getting into learning about ham radio and I heard that they have field days and contests in order to test their equipment and make sure they know how to communicate effectively, because you can’t just assume everything will work the first time in an emergency if you don’t test yourself often.
@@drivers99 There are two big activities hams do for this reason, one is the anual "Field Day" contest which you mentioned, and the other, relevant to the demonstration in the video, is hidden transmitter hunting, commonly known as "Fox Hunting" in which someone hides a radio transmitter, and others attempt to find it with whatever direction finding equipment they have. The hunt might cover a small city park, or an entire large city, depending on the teams, and the gear to be used. The hidden transmitter could range from someone in their car transmitting with 50 watts, to a tiny microcontroller based transmitter powered by a hearing aid battery and hidden in a camera film can under a log in a city park.
Send them the video of the man who contacted the ISS with his homemade antenna. That's impressive.
5:20 So she had the President build an entire airfield just for her, in a totally remote place, and she didn't even wind up using it? That'd be hilarious if it weren't, you know, SAD
@jadegecko - We don't know for sure that that is the story. Even the telegram could have been part of cover. FDR says to Earhart "It'd behoove the U.S.A. to have runways on Howland Island, just in case. The world is uncomfortable just now, and I'm worried. The best way for the U.S. to get those runways built is if a nice girl sends a telegram to the President and asks for them so she can land her plane while on a peaceful publicity-stunt. Then Congress will green-light this without fear of international reaction or provocation". That MIGHT be what happened.
Yeah practically she was a failure. She just had a good deal of popularity.
She was arigant and a female chauvinist. She was a horrible navigator. She had the best navigator in the in the industry and fired him just before the trip because he would push back when she was wrong, which was often. Then she hired a yes man for her new navigator.
The sadder thing is that it was supposed to be the first part of the trip, but due to the accident in the first take off attempt she had to go the opposite way, ended up leaving the most challenging part for last and pretty much what could go wrong went wrong. But technically they didn't build an airfield, they just cleaned three runaways for her to land in, it was a rudimentary runaway, there was no pavement, it was a refueling stop to get to the US.
@@keshavchauhan6290 She did succesful cross atlantic. And if it wasn't for major miscommunication on multiple parts, she may have made it.
Now that's a closing message that needs to be heard, but who is listening.
I never would've guessed that Amelia Earheart could have saved herself by simply switching to her loop antenna for all communications. I'm not a pilot by any means, so it wouldn't be as obvious for me, lol. Nonetheless, may she rest in peace.
Idk if it would be obvious to most pilots at the time. Clearly her biggest mistake was attempting this without having someone with deep knowledge on radio technology on board.
She had that one guy, but he either left or was "fired" as Derek mentioned in the video.
@@Tyler-z8r Ooh, I didn't put the time frame into consideration, so your explanation does add sense into the situation. Thanks!
Wimmen should not fly. I say this with love.
@@KendraAndTheLaw You think? 3 of last 4 recent comments are all negative comments no? Who knows how much more of your 52 are also hate comments. At least be truthful to yourself when insulting a whole group, you said it with hate. ( Thanks for adding words to my vocab btw, real sleek using wimmen instead of women aren’t ya? Good thing I have google )
or just turning back at the first mismessage she got
These type of stories always humble me and help me realise what amazing communication capabilities we have nowadays. There is so much we take for granted, and besides basic concepts I have no idea how they really work and how small changes or mistakes in interpretation can have a big impact. I will think about this the next time I complain the WiFi on the plane doesn’t work.
Yeah, there are like 4 different technologies today, any of them making this navigational task trivially easy (VOR beacons, GPS, radar, and ADS-B or even it's more primitive transponder predecessors).
This video goes miles, and I mean it MILES above the quality of any documentary and/or science video. 37 minutes ago I had never heard about Amelia Earhart's story and I was all the time on the edge of my chair watching. As if this were an S-tier rated thriller. 10/10 storytelling, 10/10 animations 10/10 science inputs. And what touched me the most, was 32:10 - although without a shadow of a doubt Derek had practiced his script and knew the story by heart, telling what the most propbable demise of the plane was, made him grieve and I could feel tears in both my and his eyes. This has to be my favourite Veritasium video so far and would be insanely hard to outclass it. Props to everyone involved in it and may A. Earhart rest in peace.
If you made it this far in my comment, have a nice day and like the video, it truly deserves it!
Bro is so invested
😂@@minadimova1932
Omg, 37 again!
The final message about Knowledge and Responsibility is really powerful. It's worse to lack one of these than to lack both.
Stupid comment. There is no drawback to having knowledge.
The list of assumptions leading up to the disaster is anxiety inducing.
Simply failing to obtain confirmation the ship received her telegram instructions and would be broadcasting at those intervals.
Any one of those things, if ensured, would have provided what was needed to navigate.
Failing to obtain ANY verification for any of these various technologies was incompetence.
@@Triple_J.1 It is incompetence, but it's still sad. It just sucks it was totally preventable.
There is an old grainy video of her takeoff on that leg of the trip that shows a puff of smoke coming from underneath the plane, apparently corresponding to damage to the receiving antenna. That would explain why she apparently could not receive subsequent voice transmissions.
Yeah, this is the one 'easy' mistake that had me shaking my head. Radio check after take-off given the stakes seems vital. I am surprised no one suggested it.
Doesn't matter.
What matters is their refusal to abort the mission and return to the airfield once they figured out nobody was responding to them.
This was very easy to confirm simply by talking to the departure airport over their chosen frequency before leaving the area.
Failing to obtain a radio fix at 51% fuel remaining was a serious point of no return, where they could easily have turned back and landed safely.
@@x--. It may not have been the norm for the time. It was a totally different world for aviation and radio back then
@@mrfahrenheit677 That was my assumption but I figured anyone really familiar with radios would be familiar with how easy it is for them to not be working properly -- maybe radios were just built way better back then?
19:43 *shakes hands* "I'm a male."
😂😂
Fr wtf did he say? Amamayo?
"On the nail"
When ego meets amateurism. This reminds me of a certain submarine company.
The utter recklessness of relying on very precise communications between parties without ever receiving confirmation from said parties is absolutely damning.
With people like this, it's never a matter of whether, but when they end up dying and killing others alongside them.
Hertz: I do not think that the wireless waves I have discovered will have any practical applications.
Other scientists and engineers: Thank you for the discovery we'll take it from here.
And he was mostly right...TV, radio, cases in point. ;-)
This is the entirety of science lol, im sure fourier could never have known the fourier transform would be used to solve quantum mechanical problems, a problem which he could not even fathom
He decided to instead focus his endeavors on renting out horseless carriages
@@48Boxer And made out like a bandit.
@@macslash5833 Who the hell can? For a hint, see the Feynman quote on the subject.
I've heard so many conflicting stories about Amelia Earhart. I needed this video.
Have you heard what really happened? That she flew into the Bermuda triangle and flew through a portal into the land of Gielinor where she died attempting to get a firecape?
@@Tyler-z8r
1) A.E.'s messages got ignored by men in power (US Navy) because they were jealous
2) A.E.'s ignored advices from experts and made mistakes, but in mechanical - not navigational ones.
@@Tyler-z8r She was abducted by aliens who took her to another quadrant and populated a planet with human slaves. Those slaves had a rebellion and took over. Then later on, Captain Janeway met Amelia on that planet.
@@morganmcallister2001 Are those the same aliens that took Elvis or are those separate groups?
She had a truly bad bad record of flying. she was a celebrity 1st, "Pilot" close second. Just glad she didn't let her ego kill more than 2 people. credit for having the balls to do all this, sure, but some people just cannot get the hang of whatever profession they want to master. its the ones that recognize they are likely much better at something else that get way ahead.
Amelia Earhart believed that dead reckoning navigation was a pseudoscience. She thought of it like it was astrology. She simply did not believe that it was possible to accurately compute a course using maps and math. She was a highly unintelligent glory hound. Which of course made her an awful pilot.
@@powderslinger5968 haha didn't know that. makes sense though. couldn't be bothered to study how here radios worked is bad enough. this sheds some light.
@@powderslinger5968 You have no idea what you are talking about.
If dead reckoning were so great why was GPS invented?
Dead reckoning is crap over the distance Earhart wanted to go, combine that
with unknown/changing wind speeds and disaster is programmed.
Celestial navigation requires the absence of clouds, and radio navigation
requires a working radio.
I’m no pilot or radio expert so I can’t pretend I would’ve succeeded on this journey, but just from what you’re telling us, she was waaay too overconfident in her journey.
First of all, she leaves without making sure the checkpoints received her telegrams, then, again, she leaves without having backups of her equipments, she also leaves without asking advice and having actually received the answers from a team of experts, then, she doesn’t test the equipment after takeoff (she would’ve realized voice didn’t work and flown back), and then before the halfway point, she could’ve flown back telling herself that she STILL didn’t make contact and that something was seriously wrong, but she didn’t, she just kept going like a fool hoping for the best.
All the things I mentioned above, any clueless person could have thought about those, even 100 years ago, and even without having any knowledge in navigation, piloting, radio or physics.
It’s unfortunate for her, but it was her journey, it’s futile to accuse any other human of doing something incorrectly, because at the end of the day, it was her life that was at stake and she was the ONLY person that had to make sure at 100% that all of her backup plans were solid even in the event of any human or equipment failure.
>> then, she doesn’t test the equipment after takeoff
exactly my idea. If she had properly tested her equipment she
would not even have reached the shores of the Pacific, instead turned around.
But her death made her famous, no death no video.
Here before the title and thumbnail change. "Amelia Earhart’s Final Flight - And One Thing That Could Have Saved Her"
Edit - Now it's "How Physics Doomed Amelia Earhart" and it's on it's third thumbnail
Edit - Another small change again to "The Physics That Doomed Amelia Earhart"
Always appreciate these kinds of comments haha
It's amazing to me how these channels can work on a video for months but have no confidence in the title at all. It's like they have more faith in the algorithm than they do in their own creativity, even though no one has any clue how the algorithm actually works.
@@LimeyLassen Its because they have no idea how the algorithm works that they have to try several different titles and thumbnails to see which one works best.
Now it's "The Physics That Could Have Saved Amelia Earhart"
@@TheSecondVersionit’s back to “the physics that doomed ameila earhart”
What immediately got my attention was the "cans of tomato juice" because veritasium talked about it in a previous video being one of the things that taste good at altitude!
I once launched a jet from the deck of a US Navy aircraft carrier in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and flew away at high altitude for about 90 minutes before we had to turn around to find the ship and land on it. We never saw any sign of land for all that time. I was left with an awesome feeling of how vast the oceans are, and how tiny we are in comparison. I can easily imagine the desperation of Amelia Earhart flying low and slow over the ocean with such primitive radio and navigation equipment.
was not qualified to fly the Fokker aircraft. She was not a mechanic. She had no experience flying multi- engined aircraft or sea planes, nor was she was qualified to fly instruments. She lacked oceanic navigation skills.
Honestly did not understand frequencies when we studied them in physics before. This demonstration with the graphics is amazing!
I wonder if you realize how deep and impactful your ending comment is. Truly, what a statement. Well put.
The ring antenna and the association with it and the origin of the radio is mind-blowing, and sooo cool!
So, this was a mission involving lots of people that had technical assistance that had a breakdown in communication, literally. Very informative.
I'm a french student in physics, passionnate of aviation, and I'm learning english at the same time, and this video is so clear. It's very understandable, and extremely interesting subject. Thanks a lot for this video. I'm wainting future videos with impatience.
That's fantastic! I'm glad you can enjoy videos like this while learning a new language. I wish you luck with your studies!
Hubris was what ultimately got her killed. Had she tried to replace Capt. Manning with someone else who could assists with radios and navigation, she could have safely finished her journey. Even today in highly automated commercial airplane cockpits with all modern guidance systems, for long journeys there will be a 3 person crew. That she attempted to circumnavigate the world as a two person crew is beyond reckless.
The 750m v 750kh is so much like the cm v inches errors that are still reported today for intercontinental projects. And it seems very much a case of people not feeling able to challenge her - for goodness sake she told Roosevelt to get an airstrip ready for her, not for any other purpose.
@@stevieandthebarbies It wasn't even 750 kHz - she asked for 7.50 MHz!
Aviation was basically hotshots taking incredible risks and losing back then too, the calm collected and methodical pilots of today is totally different
Well, the thing is, we don't know why Captain Manning left, you're buying that she "kicked him off", but it could very well mean that he didn't trust the inverse route (leaving the harder and most challenging part last with full pressure of success) or any other reason (like not wanting to risk his life after a near death experience). There was no such thing as 3 person cockpit in the 1930s though, you're being anachronistic in your judgment.
Well they did have less weight this way. Wasn't one pilot one navigator rather common then? Even smaller to mid sized WW2 planes only had two seats, even for Night and Naval flight.
she just became stubborn, fired her best navigator and blamed crash on him, when he was the one who saved them, and then thought she could handle radio signals on her own.... stubborness took over her consciousness and when this happens, we have seen many stories of this what happens next
just look at one of the latest. the oceangate . again ego comes before a big fall. i think his conclusion is so very flawed to blame the the navy
"She flew over the ice wall." -☝️🤓
@@JT-91u blame everyone but the woman these days.
Look around its true.
It cant be she messed up. Shes the first woman to do something!
@@jhoughjr1 duh, you never blame the person who eff'd up, WHO DOES THAT, that called accountability. Surely she was a strong independent woman in the time period.
its because she was drunk on the attention and influence she had
The thumbnail change worked! Made me click the video.
Didn't expect a new mentour pilot video on a Wednesday
😂
Lol
okay
I was just thinking that a lot of the errors here sound like exactly the sort of things in Mentor Pilot videos that get pilots killed. Improper and insufficient preparation and "flying by the seat of the pants" until something goes wrong and not enough redundancy to recover.
I would love to hear Peter do his show on this. I suggest we all get these two great commentators together to produce a show.
Dang. The detail in this video is absolutely wild. Having wheel in the Electra 10-E is incredible. I dont think anyone else would put that much detail in.
That's because nobody has the financial budget this channel has.
@@mr.shannon6137 🤣
Perhaps I'm too timid, but I'm often surprised at the unnecessary risks she took on the most dangerous and difficult leg of her entire journey. I believe she even ditched her life-raft at Lae. Howland Island is also pretty unique among other Pacific islands, as it isn't part of a large atoll, (which are numerous) nor has any terrain that rises more than a few feet above sea level (like many other volcanic islands)--so spotting it from 1,000' MSL was also nearly impossible, without flying within just a few miles from it. The Itasca itself would have been more easily spotted in a way. Plus the typical weather there consists of numerous low-level cumulus clouds, (typical of oceanic low-pressure equatorial areas) that cast shadows that resemble the size and shape of the island itself.
And on top of that she timed it, so she would be looking to land at Howland at night, making visually spotting the island even more impossible. It was a worthy endeavor, but it was incredibly badly planned and executed, she made so many bad decision and assumption, she pretty much set herself up for failure.
@@dfuher968 Yes, very poorly planned and executed... didn't turn around when not receiving any radio responses halfway there, while also encountering overcast clouds most of the way. I believe they planned to use the rising sun and sextant as part of their "landfall procedure". In any case her last transmission was around 10:30am local time, which meant the sun was at too high an angle to provide a very accurate Line of Position. In one of my videos, I demonstrate a Landfall procedure to Howland Island using a setting sun--albeit a little too low an angle due to incalculable atmospheric refraction.
Wow, after listening to you two I would say I'm surprised nobody called the whole thing off, but life experience has taught me someone (or multiple someones) almost certainly tried. Or at least tried to get her to stop tossing vital gear overboard.
Which of course we know now, 90 years later with satellites, air recon and google earth. Not something very many people would have known or let alone even connected back then. I mean dude a decade later, during ww2 the major powers couldnt even figure out why their pilots would dive bomb and some of the pilots wouldnt pull out of the dive at the bottom and just slam into the ground. They had such rudimentary understandings of these things, she was straight up WILD to attempt what she did so early on in airplane tech. But she was the explorer pioneer type and those people drive our society forward
@@dfuher968 No it's well documented that the arrival/landing was due to occur well after sunrise. Slightly alarming that your comment has had 17 up-votes
Great video but I totally disagree with your conclusions. The removal of the aft antenna, the refusal to carry onboard emergency life raft, water, food and water rescue equipment to survive at sea, the lack of redundancy of the systems she used, are all extremely reckless. Failures are inevitable and failing to prepare for inevitable failures is what caused her death. That flight should have never been allowed or happened considering the complete lack of proper preparation for all the risks involved.
Definitely, knowledge and especially responsibility go both ways. If you don't have the expertise or knowledge, then have the responsibility to outsource or relay it to someone else and make it clear what your expectations are from them.
Modern lens, that is not how things were done or worked then. People had faith in themselves and their definition of acceptable risk is far beyond what would be considered acceptable now. For that matter what was acceptable in my own twenties is largely considered a stupid risk now. Going 100's of miles into the back country with no way to communicate only paper maps that were almost 10+ years out of date, and only a basic first aid kit for a 10 day or more.
Nothing she did was reckless for the time, a raft and food for being lost at sea after ditching would be marginal at best ask the 10000's of merchant marine sailors who got off their ships into life boats after being torpedoed in WWII but were never found. And she had some redundancy in radio but the old sets were big and heavy, you did not carry 2. SHe prepared as best she thought she could, could she have done more maybe but I doubt it. The failure points were beyond just her, and in the end she did not get the breaks.
Bad take. As mentioned several times in the video, she was trying to minimize dead weight as much as possible. Bringing a life raft and emergency supplies is for naught since even needing to use it already assumes you are dead, just delaying the inevitable. She was a visionary, and extremely motivated, but this video laid out exactly why her demise happened, none of which related to your points.
10:22 Bro had the nastiest case of imposter syndrome.
Single handedly revolutionized communication lol
Your videos usually have a good bit of great info. That one was 35 minutes of amazing information. Thank you, I didn't have a clue about all the limitations of navigation at the time of her flight.
Sounds like piss poor planning, preparation and coordination. Earhart was famous for lack of preparation. Flying over the pacific without a life raft was mindbogglingly irresponsible (read that stupid).
these are some really nasty comments sir @veritasium
@@Granola-ld1by Yep, and all of them true.
Funny it didn't occur to me that that would be a very obvious thing to not remove from the plane!
i agree with the comment piss poor and reckless . i mean the radio being critical and she doesn't know how it works or what frequencies to use when both their lives depended on it. wow
A truly idiotic comment. The Electra was a tiny flying gas station. There was literally no room for anything other than "more gas". This wasn't some sort of huge plane with tons of room for rafts & parachutes & such. Trying to make it one would have REDUCED the odds, not increased them, because she'd have had even less time to find Howland Island.
I feel it comes down to one thing that covers all. Communication. Its key to everything.