Actually, he was very good at open water navigation, one of the very best, and was a pioneer in the field. The slanders against him loomed large because people were really not wanting to blame Amelia.
But there was zero margin for error on either of their parts.
It was a leg that was essentially flying from Los Angeles to Washington DC. The target was hundreds of miles from nowhere isolated. The target at that distance was a flat featureless, uninhabited island much smaller than most typical airports in America today.
If Fred made the slightest error, or if Amelia looking out into the featureless haze blinked, they missed it. The whole mission was an exceedingly dangerous one and really before its time to be done safely except by giant flying boats.
Noonan was damned good.
Actually, he was very good at open water navigation, one of the very best, and was a pioneer in the field. The slanders against him loomed large because people were really not wanting to blame Amelia.
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Oh, I agree. Earhart was more of a daredevil than a pilot. She was very poorly prepared for that leg of the trip, which included not testing the equipment that would be used to locate the island once Noonan got them in the general vicinity. The two of them were pretty much doomed as soon as they took off. Considering Earhart’s nature, which he should have known, he can be faulted for not double checking everything.
And that would tell me that by dead reckoning he would recognize if they had overflown or missed and should have started a circular search pattern - unless they had to divert significantly due to weather or had a technical problem in navigation or propulsion equipment.