Yes, a float plane would have made a lot more sense - the effort was cursed with poor thinking from the outset. Lousy radio choices, poor crew layout, and to be really honest, an untalented pilot. Amelia may have had the media and the money sewn up but she was no great shakes in less-than-ideal conditions. She ground-looped that same plane in her first attempts at this flight. Hubby had a ton of money, so she had the sponsoring to go ahead and kill herself and Fred Noonan anyway.
Shocking, they may have found plane wreckage in an area of the world where there is ample amounts of that, shocking