Publisher's Weekly Review
The mystery surrounding Amelia EarhartÄwho disappeared in the Pacific along with her navigator while attempting to fly around the world in June 1937Ähas long haunted the popular imagination. Myth and investigative reporting have variously claimed that she became a housewife in suburban New Jersey or a spy for the Defense Department who was captured by the Japanese. In this new investigation, which draws upon 25 years of research and recently rediscovered logs of Earhart's last radio transmissions, the Longs claim to have solved the mystery of her disappearance. The information that they present is convincing but less than startlingÄessentially, Earhart and her navigator, after hitting a lot of bad weather, ran out of gas. In this respect, the book will appeal only to die-hard Earhart fans. The "mystery" aside, the Longs' detailed look at Earhart's career and the history of early aviation affords a host of other pleasures, chief among them a nearly moment-by-moment description of the fatal flight itself. Communicating their love of flying and the sheer sense of adventure early flyers experienced, the Longs create a tense and at times hair-raising narrative out of the simple routines and extraordinary perils of piloting the primitive aircraft of the early 20th century. While their attention to detail may not grip casual readers who are uninterested in minute descriptions of the mechanics of early planes, the authors present a complete picture of Earhart's fate and offer a tribute to her bravery and risk taking. 4-city author tour; 20-city radio satellite tour. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A detailed chronicle of the last days of Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, and what went before, based upon an exhaustive 25-year study. Celebrated pilot Elgen Long and his coauthor wife, a public relations consultant with the Western Aerospace Museum, claim that the solution of the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Electra, Earhart's plane, has never been found until now. The fatal flight began on July 2, 1937, during an era of ``firsts'' in the fast-developing technology of pioneer aviation. As speed and endurance records toppled around them, Earhart and Noonan took off on an around-the-world flight across the equator. Wiley Post had soloed around the world in a record seven days in 1933. Earhart's flight in a late model plane had been bankrolled and otherwise supported by her influential husband, G.P. Putnam of Putnam Publishers, many friends, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Navy, the Army Air Corps, and aviation experts. Every possible precaution seemed to have been taken for a successful flight. But as a newly discovered report reveals, while Earhart and Noonan were flying the leg from Lae, New Guinea, to remote Howland Island in the Pacific, a faulty direction finder, poor radio communications, and an inaccurate map of Howland led the Electra off course while the plane ran out of fuel. Earhart and expert navigator Noonan did not know the Morse code used by the military. Earhart's last voice transmission noted that she was running out of fuel. Debunking rumors that Earhart and Noonan were captured by the Japanese, the Longs conclude that the plane, without any survival equipment aboard, must have ditched in the vast Pacific, miles from Howland. The empty fuel tanks would have filled up rapidly with sea water, causing the Electra to sink. The Longs' extensive research, coupled with their mastery of technical detail, should make this the definitive study of its subject.
