[cylinder714]

A 1993 article from the U.S. Naval Institute's Proceedings on how her lack of radio savvy was a major factor in the tragedy:

https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/1993/d...

An example: she or somebody had a retractable antenna optimized for long-range high-frequency/shortwave radio removed prior to the flight—crazy!

HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39239964

[anonymousiam]

They probably ditched the transceiver because it weighed 40-60lbs, which is a lot of extra weight for something that you don't need, based upon "success oriented" planning.

(The linked article says Earhart didn't know enough about radio, either to convert from wavelength to frequency, or to match an antenna to the transmitter. Such knowledge was probably rare in 1937.)

[lucas_membrane]

Earhart had a practice run at navigating over the ocean to a radio source on land prior to the start of her trip. She flew from somewhere around San Francisco out over the ocean, then turned around and tried to fly toward the source of a radio signal using the technique that would guide her to Howland Island. She got lost, and that exercise was never repeated by her.

[jahewson]

Radio had been around for the best part of 40 years by that point.

[bigbuppo]

Sounds like she would have been friends with Stockton Rush if she were alive today.

[jordanb]

Earhart seems to be a story of someone pushed beyond their capabilities by a runaway media narrative.

She was a good stick and rudder pilot in an era where most of them were male military veterans. This made her famous but her fame coincided with an era in which aviation headlines were being made by breaking long distance records. She couldn't remain in the limelight just doing loops and barrel rolls.

But long distance navigation required skill with technology she didn't have much familarity like radios and sextants. No doubt she had pressure to run up those firsts before some other female pilot did so she had no time to go back to school. Then you have the whole organization built around her and their expectations.

Her story isn't that much different than Donald Crowhurst.

[meinersbur]

The retractable antenna could only be used for Morse code. Only Harry Manning was well-versed in Morse, so after he quit, neither Earhard nor Fred Noonan effectively couldn't use it anyway [1].

That retractable antenna was for low frequencies. If you are referring to the underside "V" antenna (which was not retractable), that one was likely just damanged, not intentionally removed. [1, 2]

[1] https://youtu.be/zTDFhWWPZ4Q?t=1629 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39262061