What Actually Happened To Amelia Earhart?

00:00 Amelia Earhart’s final flight
03:33 Who was Amelia Earhart?
05:36 The flight plan
07:13 How celestial navigation works
09:16 Invention of radio technology
12:02 Radio waves explained
22:44 Earhart makes her critical decision
24:55 Communication failures
28:30 “Gas is running low”
31:39 Her desperate final message
33:01 The small detail that could have saved her

Special thanks to Clifford Heath for his help putting together the radio demo, and the folks at the Victorian ARDF group for connecting us.

Thank you to Brian Harrison and Michael Murphy with the AWA Communication Technologies Museum for their assistance with early research.

Thank you to Peter Bevelacqua over at Antenna Theory for help filling in some missing details.

Sharp-eyed viewers might notice there doesn't seem to be a loop antenna in the flight simulation shots. It sadly wasn't included in the simulator's model of Earhart's Electra, but it features prominently in old photos.

Patrons: Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alexander Tamas, Anton Ragin, Balkrishna Heroor, Bertrand Serlet, Bill Linder, Blake Byers, Bruce, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, Evgeny Skvortsov, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, Greg Scopel, I. H., John H. Austin, Jr., Juan Benet, KeyWestr, Kirill Shore, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Matthias Wrobel, Meekay, Michael Krugman, Orlando Bassotto, Paul Peijzel, Reed Spilmann, Richard Sundvall, Sam Lutfi, TTST, Tj Steyn, Ubiquity Ventures, gpoly, john kiehl, meg noah, wolfee

Directed by Sulli Yost and Derek Muller
Written by Sulli Yost and Derek Muller
Edited by Peter Nelson
Animated by David Szakaly, Fabio Albertelli, Ivy Tello, Mike Radjabov, Mohamed Alhaj, Emma Wright
Illustrations by Jakub Misiek, Emma Wright, Maria Gusakovich
Filmed by Derek Muller and Bernard Lau
Additional Research by Gabriel Bean, Geeta Thakur
Produced by Sulli Yost, Derek Muller, Rob Beasley Spence, Emily Lazard, Tori Brittain, Umar Ijaz
Thumbnail contributions by Peter Sheppard, Ren Hurley
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images and Storyblocks
Music from Epidemic Sound and Jonny Hyman

[ciscoserrano]

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.

[LASAGNA_LARRY]

If you ever feel forgotten, just remember there was another person in the plane when Amelia Earhart went missing (Fred Noonan).

[leonardopsantos]

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.

[christophersayrs]

The best analogy for Earhart I ever heard was that of a person that throws a baseball pretty well but doesn't understand the game. She could fly a plane pretty well but didn't understand flight.

[brianmulholland]

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.

[HoopsMR]

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!

[rex]

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.

[brandondeakins]

I spent my entire life thinking she was a great pilot and navigator who was lost due to unavoidable disaster.

Now i realize she was lost due to sheer, insane, and unfathomable incompetence by all parties

[adamdecoder]

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.

[chasejohnson]

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.

[TheLittleChicken]

The sheer amount of veritasium content released recently is a true blessing

[karagalactic]

I really appreciate you saving the sponsorship for the end. I find it almost polite and classy?😂 as funny as that sounds.
Your research is amazing in this video ❤

[davidwell]

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.

[dmitryostrovsky]

I'm 77 years old and this video is by far the absolute best presentation and explanation on Earhart's disastrous last flight. You did an excellent job of breaking down the technical problems and explaining it to a general audience. Would love to see the bonus Patreon vid, but I am disabled, below poverty line. I do not understand why almost 99% of other media does cheap tabloid versions of Earhart's final flight. Thanks again for such a superb investigation and researched video. Dima

[georgemallory]

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.

[WyattRNilsson]

As someone who did radio communications in the army, we still use much of this technology today. The bouncing off the ionosphere is a type of radio communication we use today. Great job explaining it.

[teabag_exe]

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.

[ben-z]

"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.

[captainjack]

What happened to Earhart is similar to the lost colony of Roanoke: the outcome is somewhat clear but it obscuring details makes it seem more mysterious.

[katelynjoymoore]

this is literally the first time in my years of fascination with Amelia Earhart that I’ve actually seen someone talk about what scientifically was planned and what scientifically went wrong. Thank you!❤️❤️❤️❤️