CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Amelia Earhart disappeared over eight decades ago, but Charleston’s own Tony Romeo believes he may have found her plane at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
Romeo is a pilot, comes from an aviation family, and has always been fascinated by Earhart’s story. He left his commercial real estate career to embark on a more adventurous life, which led him on a mission to find Amelia and her plane.
“Amelia Earhart was so inspiring and it’s a story that I think you can’t help but falling in love with,” Romeo said. “My favorite quote from her was, ‘why are you doing this?’ She was getting ready to leave on her trip around the world and said, ‘why are you doing this?’ And she said, ’cause I want to.’ I just love that answer. It’s just perfect.”
Those four words propelled Tony Romeo into solving the mystery of her disappearance.
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“The way we set about doing this is, well, if we buy the equipment and we turn this into a business, we can continue searching for Amelia. Whenever we’re done with a certain project, we can go back to the area and continue searching, and the idea was we’re eventually going to find her, and that was the goal.”
The idea to pursue this has been in the making since 2022. In September 2023, his crew started the three-month expedition through the Pacific Ocean.
On the ship with them was an autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV, called the HUGIN 6000.
“It goes down to about 50 meters above the seabed, and then it basically mows along. It just goes back and forth, back and forth, and it looks out about a mile wide, and it’s just sending out sound and listening for what comes back, and then it paints a nice image of what it’s seen.”
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When they pulled the AUV out of the water, the data revealed something incredible.
“You see weird rock formations and things on the bottom of the ocean, but you’re not going to see that nice t-shape that an airplane forms, and we saw that”
A surreal moment for Romeo and his team. The sonar image was captured about 100 miles away from Howland Island.
“I just remember thinking, golly, this is the first time she’s been seen in 86 years, so it was a kind of a sobering moment, but also two people died there too. So. we’ve got to keep that in mind.”
Elaine Hadley is a dedicated journalist covering the ever-evolving landscape of U.S. news. With a keen interest in politics and a commitment to uncovering the truth, she provides insightful commentary and in-depth analysis on domestic issues. When not reporting, Elaine enjoys exploring the diverse cultures and landscapes of the United States.
