Monday 8 February 2016

Amelia Earhart's Fuel tank?

Long lost but never forgotten.The Earhart mystery remains one of the greatest search projects which brings to tests many cutting-edged techs.
Many thanks for pointing me to the TIGHAR's site. I can barely tell if Amelia Earhart's
fuel tank on her Electra was similar to the tank on the model of the Electra carved by William F. Harney some 65 years later.

William's Model Electra.
https://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/harneydrawings/harneypage07floorplan.jpg

This part of the plane wreck was discovered from the mountains near Lae in Morobe Province. It is an unreported crash site. A recent search on Pacific wrecks website found no record of this wreck. Even on the Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency, there is no mention of Amelia Earhart on the missing American lists. The origin of this plane is unknown but the villagers claimed it could be Earhart's plane wreck even when TIGHAR strongly refuses to accept if it was any of Earhart's plane parts. But what if it does belong to her plane?
Discovered near Lae
                                                                                             

Monday 2 November 2015

Tidal Current Assessment; Buka Passage, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, PNG

When I visited Buka, (19th of October 2015) I had to take along a flow meter to test the ocean current speed. The Global Water's flow meter had a propeller with a small magnet attached to it so that when it is propelled, a small electric signal is generated to give speed indications. It has a probe of about 6 meters long and pushed back into the handle for portability. The whole length has to be immersed completely into the water to give speed reading at depth. The calibration factor was kept as factory set.
The Buka Passage is a channel that separates the township into two; Buka town on one side where most shops and government head quarters for the new Autonomous government is located, and the Kokopau on the other side, the main island of Bougainville.
Buka Passgae in view on Google earth


Bougainville has a history of a very long and bloody conflict in the Pacific in the modern era which costed thousands of lives and also brought down to its knees the once world famous copper mine The Panguna Copper Mining Giant, (BCL). Their's was certain as it had a definite start and and ending dates unlike our friends in the Western Niugini Island (The West Papuans) whose fate, till to date is still uncertain.
So much so that when I arrived, it was all the memories, the scars of both before and aftermath of the civil war. This time, peace has slowly made its way into Bougainville but a lot of things has yet to be learnt from them as they have missed so many opportunities during the seizure of  their land. Things and people on the ground are completely different from what the media used to portray about. Any body could tell whilst on the ground that they have a very long and prosperous future in waiting.
White house building at Arawa; PNG's 10th anniversary building
That morning, I arrived at the Jackson's international airport terminal at five in the morning and waited till 09:15 to be told the flight was delayed by an hour. At 10:25, we were told the flight to Buka via Rabaul, flight PX 252 was cancelled. I asked the Airniugini terminal staff to book me a hotel to stay overnight which they could not do, even when I showed them that I was a transiting passenger, they demanded I provide the receipt for last night's accommodation. I did not have one as I was running on a tight budget and had to stay with friends. The university (USP) gave me some funding just enough to spend on food only (no accommodation fees) for my two nights transition at Port Moresby and on Monday I would have to leave for Buka.  I had to stay with friends on arrival from Fiji on Saturday, and did not like to stay just one more night again in Port Moresby. Anyway, whilst waiting, I overheard of another flight going to Keita/Aropa at 13:25 that afternoon. I got no choice; even when I did not know about Kieta and Arawa, I got to tell the staff to change my booking for Kieta for that afternoon flight. They did not charge me any additional fees for changing the flight. I had to board the flight PX 264 to Kieta/Aropa instead. That was a blessing in disguise as the  failure of the Fokker 100 aircraft that morning provided me the opportunity to visit my birthplace, the Arawa General Hospital. It was here that mum first brought me into the earth about some 30 years ago. It was fortunate for me, yes thanks to Airniugini Fokker 100 for making this possible! And also thanks to USP for sponsoring my journey. By the way, I was only about a year old then when civil war broke out and dad had to quit his job with the then BCL mine to bring us home to Finschhafen.
When I arrived at Aropa airport, the place was calm and serene. People were so friendly; few of them waited to welcome home friends. I looked an obvious red in the dark. I asked for a PMV to Arawa and was directed to an open back Toyata land cruiser with a mounted canopy. We went pass Toniwa, then Kieta harbour, with fascinating scenes of rundown buildings and structures, some partly covered with vines. Truly a commemorative view to fit up with what used to be the best township in the early days.  Finally we arrived at Arawa and I was admitted to the Sunrise Guest House, a place just on the opposite side of the main road near to the gateway entrance of the Arawa hospital. I paid ten kina to the driver and turned in to register for the night's accommodation. They charged me K200 lodging and meal fees which I later paid, when I got the money from the nearby BSP bank ATM. The guest house was very good and the setting was very beautiful except I was unable to excess the internet with my Bmobile dongle. I don't know if Bmobile has extended services into Arawa as yet.
The remains of Toniwa township
Next morning, very early at five I took another PMV, also an open back Toyota land cruiser and four hours later, we arrived at the Kokopau town with dust covered faces. I was charged K50 for the fare which I paid upon arrival at the Kokopau town. Then  I walked over to the boat stop and started calling my friend Dallas.
He was working with the family firm on the main town of Buka on the other side of the Passage. Few minutes later, he arrived on an outboard motor; a two kina taxi fare across the passage.
I did not recognize him quickly because he has grown so huge for my size. Indeed, he left us six years ago at Unitech. He pointed his finger at me and shouted my name. And that was when I realized it was him. I rode on and we crossed over to the other side. To be frank, Buka has one of the very hot climates on earth, much hotter than Lae, Madang or even Port Moresby where I found most nights sleepless. Sunlight here is endless; generally, PNG climate is endless summer as we all know.
Anyway, I was tired so had to reschedule my line of work for next day. We had to probe the Buka Passage. There were three other guys who came to assist. Max commanded the boat, Jarmain and James, a friend of half Yalu (Lae) parentage helped me did the measurement. We started on Wednesday; We had to measure both day and night. Our aim was to obtain a maximum velocity and we did not want to miss that, so every minute was important. Also because I did not have enough time as my ticket was paid and confirmed for Monday return flight from Buka to POM.
Probing the Buka Passage
That is why we had to make use of every minute, just to find the maximum current speed. As we rode onto the boat, I realized that I had never seen such a mass of water flowing like a river in the sea. Again, it was only when I started reading about tidal currents, that's when I knew tides could flow up to 3.5 m/s maximum but did not expect to literally see  the flow. For the Buka passage, it was different. We had to measure at 2.5 to 3.6 m/s maximum most times for two days and when we noticed the computer reader exceeding 3.6 m/s, the probe vibrated rigorously. And I feared it might break very shortly so we had to call off. The meter reading hit exactly at 4.7m/s and the probe bent over and almost fractured.
We took it out, fixed it and I told the guys it was okay, we had to stop somehow because we could not force the instrument anymore. 4.7 m/s was the maximum speed recorded, which is enough for our knowledge,
https://www.google.co.id/maps/@-5.4333986,154.680751,4508m/data=!3m1!1e3

But according to local knowledge, the tide did not flow to its peak level when we were probing. I saw it flowing on the Monday morning, whilst waiting for my flight. The sea was moving fast like a flooded river,
Bougainville bar; 100 thousand dollars on my palm
except there was no sound from it.
One last thing, gold. Yes Bougainville is
truly the home of Gold. I was fortunate to be shown few pieces and that small piece, a 1000g piece on my palm was taken out from a small furnace that day.
I left with my mind full of memorable experiences. The people were very friendly and welcoming.  If there was any place with a wonderful atmosphere in PNG, I would definitely recommend it is non other than Bougainville.
I had to thank my Kiaras  Dallas, Jarmain and their family, Axil and Max, the boat skipper. So much so that when I returned, I had just one most important thing in my mind. I was borne here but brought up elsewhere. Hahahaha......a wonderful experience!









Tuesday 2 September 2014

Amelia Mary Earhart’s remains is in Niugini

Despite numerous searches  in the Pacific, the Voice of New Generation (VoNG) claims that the remains of the late American aviator, Amelia Earhart and her Navigator Fred Noonan remains in Niugini (Papua New Guinea).
The group, VoNG is a non-profit organisation from Lae which had independently searched the remains for the last 7 years since the year 2007. The group leader, Mr. Groover Tiworing is a Fitter Machinist by profession and works at the Lihir Gold mine in PNG. He is sure that the wreckage of a plane he discovered belongs to the late American aviator.  
Mr Tiworing got interested in the search when he had for the first time learned about the mysterious disappearance in The National  news paper back in 2007. He tried to plot the route as he suggested Earhart would have taken after leaving Lae airport. His direction unknowingly went straight over to where the wreckage is now located. He then followed up and caught up with several old men and women who gave their testimony to the wreckage.  They saw the two in the plane, sitting dead  in the cockpit within the puddle of water from the poolside. That was two days after the plane had crashed and when the water got cleared off the muddled silt and dust.
Figure 1 shows the map as Mr Groover first predicted; His assumption was that Earhart would have thought of making the 'longest' global voyage. The longest distance across the globe for sure is through the equator line, from which Earhart was 6 degrees South at Lae. She may have thought of going straight north to the equator, then change for east along the equator line to Howland Island.
Fig1. Earhart tried North for Equator
Her final radioed message stated she was on the line ‘North and South’ which Mr Tiworing says she was flying straight North but was somewhat on the location South of the Equator line.
In the figure 2, Mr Tiworing shows the actual route (red lined) Earhart may have taken due to weight considerations on her plane and and also the height of the nearby mountains immediately to the north of Lae would not have permitted her to cross directly north. She evaded it and hence found herself going towards Finschhafen as later stated by James Sinclair's Golden Gateway: Lae and the Province of Morobe. The book states, as “Earhart flying towards Finschhafen way with her prop nearly cutting the water surface”.
The yellow tagged  indicates the actual point where the plane wreckage is right now located.
Figure 2; Earhart went towards Finschhafen, then changed North (Red line)
















Earhart had to follow up the Mongi River valley to her unfortunate crash in the mountains of Huon Peninsula. She hit a tree trunk high up in a mist covered mountain . She then changed back and crash landed in a small lake some 2-3 miles down, away from the mountain top where the trunk was. Being high up there, she would not have expected any marine rescue team at all.

When asked about the pieces of evidence that Mr Ric Gillespie (of TIGHAR) and others had found, Mr Tiworing strongly claims that all is a result of miscalculations from the very beginning.  It's kind of you've got to come up with a theory to find the truth or that you got the truth and need to work out the theory.

In fact, the duo had never made out of the plane after they crash landed. They were unconscious when they crashed and had to remain in the plane till they ran out of air and got suffocated and died eventually. The wreckage is now covered with few centimeters of built up swamp.
Everyone confirmed it's an American plane of the Lockheed family and had two lives buried with it. And it happened just before the second world war.

The actual location of the wreckage is 6.4061111 degrees South and 147.5161111degrees East on a 3285 feet above sea level. It is a 30 minutes flight by helicopter from Lae.
Mr Groover is welcome to work with any individual or organisation to get the wreckage off the swamp and have it proved scientifically. His registered aircraft serial number is  NR16020. Contact me for more information: ulgeesh@gmail.com


Wednesday 1 January 2014

ALFRED POGO IS RESTRAINED FROM AMELIA EARHART SEARCH

Former member for Finschhafen (the then Defense and later Works Minister), Mr Alfred Pogo has been told to stop searching for the wreckage of an American Plane in the mountains of Huon Peninsula in Finschhafen, Morobe Province by the local landowners.
Calling themselves The Voice of New Generation, the locals have been searching independently for clues to the disappearance of the the late American aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan.. The Team Leader is Mr Groover Tiworing who is currently employed by the Newcrest Gold Mine's Lihir Mining in New Ireland Province. They have begun searching on the 70th anniversary of the disappearance of the aviator and her navigator Fred Noonan. To date, the group has located the wreckage of the plane and are up to prove the actual identity scientifically.
The Voice of New Generation has strongly condemned Mr Pogo from further search and interference with the locals on the subject matter. The matter has been brought before the Lae Police station and the hearing was postponed until February 7th 2014 at the Lae court house.