Richard Pettigrew
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Search complete. 6 mentions across 6 episodes found for "Richard Pettigrew".
Oct 15, 2026
Richard PettigrewSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
planeWe're still very much in the data gathering phase.
Lana ZakCORRESPONDENT
The team is led by two Americans, Steve Scholz from Purdue University, and Richard Pettigrew from the Archeological Legacy Institute.
Richard PettigrewSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Our next step, uh, is to complete analysis of the data that we've gathered, and then, uh, to begin using a hydraulic dredge to remove sediment from the bottom.
Lana ZakCORRESPONDENT
In 1937, Earhart was trying to accomplish what was once unimaginable, flying around the world.
Chris WilliamsonHOST
The investigative group consists of 17 people, accompanied by a 17-person vessel crew.
Chris WilliamsonHOST
Leading the expedition is Dr. Richard Pettigrew, a name you know well if you listen to this show.
Chris WilliamsonHOST
He's the executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, and he's leading this newest expedition.
Chris WilliamsonHOST
A very different name out in front of a Nicamaroro visit.
Krista Bo PolancoHOST
A team led by Purdue University is heading to a remote Pacific island about 400 miles south of where Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were trying to land when they disappeared in 1937.
Krista Bo PolancoHOST
They're going there to investigate one very specific clue that researchers like Richard Pettigrew believe could be wreckage from Earhart's plane.
speaker_5SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
If it is the Electra aircraft, then we will have solved one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century.
Krista Bo PolancoHOST
CNN's Katie Hunt has been following the expedition.
Kurt SandvigHOST
The search was originally announced in July of 2025, 88 years to the day that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, mysteriously disappeared.
Kurt SandvigHOST
Richard Pettigrew, the executive director of ALI, is leading the expedition team traveling to Nicaragua.
Kurt SandvigHOST
While the journey's launch approaches quickly, he said the prospect of setting off on the discovery mission of this potential magnitude continues.
Kurt SandvigHOST
is exhilarating.
ToriHOST
I'm feeling very confident about this.
ToriHOST
I'm pumped, lead archaeologist Richard Pettigrew told USA Today.
ToriHOST
Amelia was trying to become the first person to fly around the world at the equator when she disappeared, along with her navigator Fred Noonan, somewhere between Papua New Guinea and Howland Island in 1937.
ToriHOST
In addition to the photo of an object in the water, the Purdue Research Foundation says radio bearings converge there, human bones discovered on the island were a similar size to Earhart's measurements, and artifacts found nearby include a woman's shoe, a jar of freckle cream, and a medicine vial that dates to the 1930s.
Richard PettigrewSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
These are the Phoenix Islands, and right in the middle of that is Nikumaroro Island.
speaker_18NARRATOR
Richard Pettigrew from the Archaeological Legacy Institute has his own hypothesis.
Richard PettigrewSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
She would've landed her plane here and probably camped on the island nearby.
speaker_18NARRATOR
Pettigrew believes Earhart and Noonan survived on Nikumaroro Island.