Earhart explorer remains determined to find plane

A deep sea explorer, who was traveling through Cedar Rapids Saturday, said he remains determined to find the plane of Amelia Earhart.

David Jourdan, author of the new book, “The Deep Sea Quest for Amelia Earhart” spoke to a crowd of about 200 people at Ballantyne Auditorium, Kirkwood Community College.

Jourdan, Founder and President of Nauticos, led trips in 2002 and 2006 to look for Earhart's downed Lockheed Electra plane. On Saturday he flashed a laser point at slides and described how crews used sonar to search the ocean floor for Earhart.

He said some parts of the Pacific Ocean are still unmapped. “There's not much going on in that part of the world,” he said.

Over the years the Naval Academy graduate has teamed up with engineers and analysts from Rockwell Collins. The work Nauticos is doing is narrowing the search for Earhart, as well as mapping unfamiliar parts of the ocean floor.

When Earhart's plane vanished near Howland Island in 1937 there was no wreckage, oil slick, or floating debris.

There are many challenges in the search.

Jourdan said it's an expensive and time-consuming adventure. He said it costs about $1 for every second a ship is at sea.

One of the journeys ended early after two crew members became ill, “I knew immediately our trip was over,” said Jourdan. The two recovered after returning to land, said Jourdan.

Over the years he said he had grown to appreciate the life of Earhart. He said he hoped to return to Cedar Rapids one day soon with the Electra.

He hopes the plane will be taken all over the country when it is finally discovered.

“We would take it from city to city and ultimately it would be donated to the appropriate museum,” he said.

Rod Blocksome, of Cedar Rapids, and a retired Rockwell-Collins systems analyst, said he had been on the two previous expeditions with Jourdan.

Blocksome said he was looking forward to the next trip.

Nauticos is working right now to determine its date.

Blocksome said the science and adventure involved in finding Earhart's plane is what keeps him inspired to continue the search.

“It's more than a quest,” he said.