It’s too long. In short, Earhart lost her receiving antenna on take off. That’s on film. Therefore, she could broadcast, but not receive. (Which leads men to make statements some might consider sexist...) That communication failure proved deadly to her and her navigator.
Couldnt find the flyspeck that was Howland Island, ran out of fuel, and plunged into the Pacific. It’s that simple.
Apparently people heard her calls later - after her last “official” transmission:
“In the week after her plane vanished on July 2, 1937, there were 120 reports from around the world claiming to have picked up radio signals and distress calls from Earhart – 57 of which were determined to be credible.
The distress calls suggest Earhart and a severely injured Fred Noonan were stranded on a reef, at the mercy of the tides.
These heartbreaking messages were picked up around the world by naval stations actively participating in the search, and casual listeners in their homes.
Later that night in the second ‘active period’ of signaling, a housewife from Amarillo, Texas heard Earhart say she was ‘down on an uncharted island - small, uninhabited.’
The transmission went on to say the plane was ‘part on land, part in water,’ and that the navigator Fred Noonan was seriously injured, and needed immediate medical attention.
That same night, a woman from Ashland, Kentucky heard Earhart say the plane was ‘down in ocean’ and ‘on or near a little island.’
She continued: ‘Our plane is about out of gas. Water all around. Very dark,’ before going on to mention a storm and winds blowing.
‘Will have to get out of here,’ she said. ‘We can’t stay here long.’
Almost all of signals considered to be credible can be traced back to Gardner Island, where Earhart and Noonan were likely marooned on a reef.
The ghost of aviation, she was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea, like me, she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending on beautiful foolish arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm