Race to find Amelia Earhart's lost plane hits rough seas as crucial deadline nears

Days into their expedition, the team searching for Amelia Earhart’s missing plane is battling severe weather — and racing to identify a mysterious object that could finally solve the aviator's disappearance.

Purdue University announced in a Thursday update that the 17-person expedition was forced to pause field operations after winds and rough seas made it too dangerous to reach Nikumaroro by transport boat.

The group is investigating the Taraia Object, a visual anomaly in the island's lagoon that researchers believe could be the wreckage of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10-E.

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Winds and rough seas near Nikumaroro "made conditions unsafe," Purdue University said.

"Despite Thursday’s weather delay, the expedition remains on schedule, with two more days of field operations planned — and an update on the identification of the Taraia Object expected — before the team must depart the atoll and return to Tarawa, Kiribati," the university said.

Because Nikumaroro is 17 hours ahead of Eastern time in the United States, an update could come as early as Saturday, although Purdue did not give a specific release time.

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The university also said the team had begun collecting data on the Taraia Object, but it cautioned that it was too early to draw conclusions.

"We understand the tremendous interest in what we’re doing at Nikumaroro, and we appreciate everyone’s patience," Rick Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute and a leader of the expedition, said in a statement.

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"This is a complex scientific process," he added. 

"You don’t simply arrive at a site and immediately identify what’s there. We have to carefully collect the data, analyze it and reach sound conclusions."

Earhart disappeared on July 2, 1937 while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world.

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She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished during one of the final legs of their journey after departing Lae, New Guinea, for Howland Island.

Earhart was just 39 years old when she vanished — one of the most famous people in the world at the time.

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Purdue became involved in the latest search in February 2025, when expedition leader Rick Pettigrew approached the Purdue Research Foundation about investigating the Taraia Object.

Purdue spokesperson Trevor Peters previously told Fox News Digital that, if the Taraia Object is Earhart's airplane, the team hopes to conduct a full-scale archaeological excavation next year with the proper permissions.

"The eventual curation of the wreckage has been the subject of discussions with [the Republic of] Kiribati, and although nothing has been finalized, ALI [the Archaeological Legacy Institute] and the Purdue Research Foundation share a dream of returning the plane to Purdue to be displayed, consistent with Amelia's original wishes," he added.