A key piece found in Earhart puzzle?
Chesco-based tracker, eager for more, believes so.
A jagged scrap of riveted aluminum found by Chester County-based searchers might be the best evidence yet that Amelia Earhart's attempted flight around the world ended at a remote Pacific Island.
But contrary to reports that the Earhart mystery has been solved, it's premature to call the case closed.
The panel, found in 1991 on an atoll known as Nikumaroro, is an excellent match for a window patch on Earhart's Lockheed Electra, according to new research.
But longtime Earhart tracker Ric Gillespie stops short of calling it conclusive proof.
He heads the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), a Chester County-based network of experts and enthusiasts who have made 10 trips for 25 years to Nikumaroro.
"We reached a point where we feel very confident we have a part of the airplane," he said by phone Thursday from his home in Oxford, west of Kennett Square.
But, he added, "I don't think this is going to be what we call the 'any-idiot artifact' that solves the Earhart mystery."
On a scale of 1 to 10, his confidence is at 9.8, he hesitantly told NBC's Today show.
Finding proof could happen soon, with a June expedition planned.
A strange sonar pattern discovered two years ago could mark the underwater resting place of Earhart's Lockheed Electra, and TIGHAR will use divers to hunt for wreckage and a remote-operated vehicle to try to photograph the fuselage.
"We need to get back there and look at that anomaly," Gillespie said. ". . . It's the right length and the right height, and we know it's in the right place to be the airplane."
Nearby parts of the island will also be searched for signs of an early campsite.
Over the years, TIGHAR has amassed a remarkable array of artifacts and fact-based arguments.
The metal scrap is the best evidence yet, Gillespie believes.
The fact that no other wreckage scraps were found on the island suggests the Electra may not have broken into bits.
"Maybe the airplane is much more intact than we dared to think it was," Gillespie said.