Modern-Day Amelia Earhart Lands In Bay Area, Completes Namesake's Around-The-World Journey
OAKLAND (KPIX 5) -- More than 77 years after Amelia Earhart attempted to fly around the world, a woman named after the aviation legend completed her own round-the-world flight by landing at Oakland International Airport Friday afternoon.
31-year-old Amelia Rose Earhart began her trip from Oakland on June 26th. She piloted a Pilatus PC-12 more than 24,000 nautical miles, making 17 stops along the way.
Some of the countries Earhart flew to include Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, Tanzania, and Australia.
Shortly after landing in Oakland around 5:30 p.m., Earhart tweeted this message.
"I feel amazing. We had a wonderful flight from Honolulu, completely safe. We had a picture of Amelia there with us," Earhart told reporters after landing. "It was an amazing journey, we feel like we had Amelia there with us, symbolically closing her flight plan. She left off near Howland Island, we flew over Howland itself. So to come back here, it just brings it full circle."
"I've been working on this for the last year and a half. But really, it's been a part of me because of my parents…they gave me this name, it's just incredible, I just feel wonderful," Earhart said.
Earhart said she took up flying about 10 years ago.
"From Day 1 it has been a passion," she said. "And you know, a lot of people ask me, 'Do you feel forced to fly because of this name?' And, absolutely not, I feel like it's a part of me. It's what I was born to do. And now we did it, we finished the flight around the world."
By completing the journey, Earhart becomes the youngest woman to circumnavigate the globe in a single-engine aircraft.
Amelia Mary Earhart, no relation to Amelia Rose Earhart, was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932. In 1937, Earhart attempted to circumnavigate the globe, beginning her journey from Oakland. She disappeared over the Pacific near Howland Island.
