# Search for Earhart's plane finds only trees

> An expedition to Nikumaroro found the mysterious object spotted in satellite imagery was debris, not aviation's greatest mystery solved.
- Title: Search for Earhart's plane finds only trees · Cbsnews
- Summary: An expedition to Nikumaroro found the mysterious object spotted in satellite imagery was debris, not aviation's greatest mystery solved. A seventeen-member…
- Keywords: amelia earhart, nikumaroro, aviation mystery, expedition, lockheed electra, taraia object, news, Search, Earhart's, plane, finds, only
- Source: Cbsnews — https://cbsnews.com/news/amelia-earhart-missing-plane-not-found-nikumaroro-expedition
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: amelia earhart, nikumaroro, aviation mystery, expedition, lockheed electra, taraia object, news
## Expedition finds no wreckage
Researchers investigating a mysterious object near Nikumaroro confirmed it was not Amelia Earhart's missing plane, dealing another setback to solving aviation's greatest mystery.
## The object was trees, not metal
The Taraia Peninsula anomaly was a collection of large trees deposited along a sandspit. The reflective surface that suggested metal was actually a carbonate veneer coating.

> a collection of large trees deposited along the peninsula's sandspit
## The search team faced severe obstacles
A seventeen-member expedition led by Purdue University's Steve Schultz and the Archaeological Legacy Institute's Richard Pettigrew launched October fourteenth. Severe weather kept them aboard ship for three of five days allotted.
## Earhart disappeared nearly ninety years ago
Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared July second, nineteen thirty-seven, roughly twenty-two thousand miles into their attempt to circle the world around the equator.
## Competing theories persist
Richard Pettigrew believes Earhart and Noonan landed on Nikumaroro and survived there for some time, pointing to nineteen-thirties relics and human remains. Several competing theories lack conclusive evidence.
## The search continues elsewhere
In twenty twenty-four, an expedition team captured a sonar image of what appeared to be an aircraft on the ocean floor, but the object was later identified as a rock formation.
## Key takeaway

A seventeen-member expedition to Nikumaroro confirmed a mysterious object was trees, not Amelia Earhart's missing plane, ending another search effort.