Romeo ('16): It is the greatest mystery of all time

“Some people call it one of the greatest mysteries of all time, I think it is the greatest mystery of all time. We have an opportunity to bring closure to one of the greatest American stories ever.” – Anthony Romeo

Charleston School of Law alumnus Tony Romeo (’16) and his team of underwater archaeologists at Deep Sea Vision may be close to solving one of the greatest mysteries in U.S. history. According to Romo, the Deep Sea Vision team scanned 5,200 square miles of the Pacific Ocean floor last September in search of any trace related to Amelia Earhart’s plane.

“The Pacific Ocean is huge, which Amelia Earhart found out for herself,” Romeo told the USA Today. “It’s an incredible distance to cover. We were out there for 100 days, over rough seas, and not a lot of ports to reprovision. That’s where we need different equipment so we can take a closer look, see how it’s laying on the sand, and work with others who have an interest in this.”

Earhart’s plane disappeared in 1937 with her navigator, Fred Noonan. They took off from Lae, New Guinea, and headed toward Howland Island, a small island in the Pacific where they would meet the U.S. Coast Guard to refuel. Somewhere in between the plane fell off the radar and disappeared. Despite multiple efforts, the plane was never found.

The 16-person expedition paid off – or at least that what the team believes.  The sonar device captured pixelated images of resembles a small aircraft that the  team believes could be a Lockheed 10-E Electra, the same model aircraft Earhart was piloting when she went missing.

“You’d be hard-pressed to convince me it’s not the plane,” Romeo told the Washington Post.

Deep Sea Vision is planning to return to the site to confirm their findings and capture additional imagery. Until then, Deep Sea Vision is keeping location coordinates of the sonar image confidential.

“It’s something I’ve been dreaming about since I was a little kid,” said Romeo.

According to multiple media reports, Deep Sea Vision hopes additional research will confirm the identity of the object. If the team can confirm the plane belonged to Earhart,  Romeo and his team are hoping to retrieve the debris.

“That would be a massive project that would probably take years,” he said.

Related Stories: