Kickstarter is often used to raise funds for new apps (like DashBurst’s upcoming mobile apps), hardware and other tangible projects. This is why I was surprised when I learned of the recently launched Expedition for Amelia campaign to fund an expedition to search for Amelia Earhart’s lost plane. Not only is the campaign using crowdfunding in a unique way but it’s also striving to uncover the truth behind one of history’s most interesting mysteries: whatever happened to Amelia Earhart?
Amelia Earhart was a pioneer in aviation, not just for women but for pilots of all walks of life. Perhaps most famous for being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, Earhart is admired as a trailblazer by female aviators everywhere. Earhart disappeared during a circumnavigational flight of the world in 1937 and was last heard from over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Speculation over her fate continues to this day, and some continue to search for the Lockheed Model 10 Electra she last flew.
Dana Timmer, lifelong ocean sailer and Earhart researcher, is one such person. In 1988 Timmer founded Howland Landing LLC, through which he led the first ever deep water sonar search for Earhart’s plane. Through 15 years of research on Earhart and her last expedition, Timmer has come to believe that the Electra lies on the ocean floor in the vicinity of Howland Island, approximately 1,700 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu. He believes in this theory so strongly he’s willing to spend $1.96 million of his backers’ money investigating the area!
If funded, Timmer and the deep sonar experts of Williamson & Associates will lead a crew of researchers and documentarians aboard the Sarsen expedition ship on a journey searching through up to 18,000 feet of water near Howland Island. Besides a potential answer to the mystery of Amelia Earhart, Timmer is offering backers insight into what it’s like to search through the deep waters of the ocean. Through daily updates with photos, videos and log entries, Timmer’s crew will create a “unique, live documentary experience” backers can enjoy.
Learn more about the Expedition for Amelia on its website or by watching the Kickstarter video below:
Would you spend $2 million searching for Earhart’s plane?
via The Verge
