Amelia Rose Earhart, traffic reporter at 9NEWS in Colorado, announced plans today to recreate the flight of her famous namesake. Earhart, who claims to be a distant relative of the Amelia Earhart who attempted to be the first woman to fly solo around the world before her tragic disappearance in 1937, obtained her pilot’s license in 2004. She then completed a transcontinental flight from Oakland, Ca to Miami, Fl in 2012, retracing a similar path taken by Amelia Earhart in 1937 on her second attempt to circumnavigate the globe.

While Amelia Rose Earhart’s trip will theoretically be easier than her predecessor’s due to advances in technology (GPS and a new, fancy Pilatus PC-12 NG single-engine aircraft), there will still some major difficulties. The primary problem facing Earhart will be obtaining access to airspace above certain countries. According to USA Today (which happens to be owned by Gannett, the same company that owns Earhart’s station – KUSA 9NEWS), Earhart’s partner company, Jeppesen, will be working for several months to acquire the permits and permissions necessary to fly-over and land-in certain areas.

Amelia is not only seeking personal glory with her aviation career. Earhart recently started The Fly With Amelia Foundation, a Colorado-based non-profit which aims to get more girls, aged 16-18, involved with aviation, mainly through scholarships and educational flight classes.

The Amelia Project will take off in June 2014. The trip around the world will start in Oakland, Ca and will take approximately 100 hours and 14 stops to complete. In order to prepare for this journey, Earhart and her partner/co-pilot Patrick Carter recently completed 8 days of flight simulation training in Florida. The two participated in drills that essentially tested every problem they could encounter along the way – engine failure, loss of pilot control, and even cabin pressure issues. By undertaking this journey, Earhart hopes to do more than live up to her prestigious name. She also hopes to inspire future generations to live up to their own potentials:

“By recreating and symbolically completing Amelia Earhart’s flight around the world, I hope to develop an even deeper connection to my namesake and also encourage the world to pursue their own adventures. Amelia believed that, “adventure is worthwhile in itself” and it is that type of attitude that spurs us to seek the unknown, push our limits and fly outside the lines.”

Ultimately, Earhart hopes to become famous for being the youngest female to successfully fly around the world and not for succumbing to the same tragedy which befell her namesake. While Amelia Earhart was very successful as an aviatrix, it was her disappearance in the islands of the Pacific Ocean that allowed her to become a permanent fixture in American culture. Since Earhart’s disappearance in 1937, many movies, novels, and conspiracy theories have tried to decipher exactly what happened on that fateful day. Earlier this year, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) thought that they had possibly discovered Earhart’s aircraft through the use of sonar technology (despite the claim that the plane had already been discovered in 2010).

For more information concerning The Fly With Amelia Foundation or to follow the progress of The Amelia Project, check out Earhart’s project page at

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