Expeditions to A.R.O.B the Autonomous Region of Bougainville

The Search for Amelia Earhart

I served on expeditions in 2018 and 2019 to what is formerly a region of Papua New Guinea where I was searching for and ultimately exploiting an undersea crash site and gathering evidence to determine if this site could be the crash site of the Lockheed 10E aircraft of Amelia Earhart.

My role in this expedition has been everything technical. I was fortunate enough to serve on the first expedition under the management of Mr. Richard Pruett Esq. a retired Foriegn Services Agent. The second expedition I was the manager and still everything technical. I am the only engineer still to this day to have dived on the site.

I was tasked with re-acquiring a subsea aircraft crash site that had been noticed by sponge divers many years prior but once again, lost. The Snavely Expeditions (William Pennington Snavely III) has been studying My findings for the past 6 years!

It did not start there, Bill Snavely had theorized on a likely point for the aircraft to end up after falling out of the sky far from where all of the best minds in history have always assumed the aircraft would be! Snavely had contemplated his theory for more than a decade before sending Richard and Myself on the mission to find answers!

The story certainly has not ended and has not had all the details disclosed. This and My upcoming book and documentary are My firsthand accounts with amazing photography and full disclosure of the findings. This is an instrumental and valid search into the mystery of Amelia Earhart.

About the expedition Project Blue Angel

Taking care of others

... seems to be a recurring theme in the life of Tracy Wildrix. Managing the technical requirements of an expedition is one of the toughest jobs I ever had. I have had jobs that only demanded 90 hours per week but when everything is on the line for one of these expeditions it is a 24 hour per day deal and there is always something to fix and no time to practice or rehearse, just deal with it and make it happen. Papua New Guinea can be a very un-forgiving place and one mistake can be the end of the game. This requires careful attention to protecting others on the team from unknown threats.

Extreme Planning and Preparation

What is the ultimate test of organizational abilities and the ability to plan everything from scientific research to logistics? That would be planning an expedition to the most remote and unspoiled location on earth where there are no safety nets. Papua New Guinea is a place where the only thing that helps out with personal safety and comfort is a kind hand of the people of Bougainville. The place is the original Gilligan's Island - no luxuries of any kind. It is a place that calls for a simple guy to be an expert of many things that You can not plan for. You end up becoming a body guard, a medic, a negotiator while trying to solve the scientific evidence you are uncovering every day at the site.

Tracy Wildrix expedition to matsungan island papua new guinea search for amelia earhart, undersea ex

Thanks to this Team

We all know that if it were not for the theory of Bill Snavely this discovery never would have been made. I also owe a big thanks to Richard Pruett who negotiated a permanent deal with the locals for our exclusive access to the dive site. Thank You Mike Orange of Boxfish for Your valuable work on the second expedition with Your deep sea rover, I felt so safe with that rover buddy that never comes up for air. Special thanks to Pepe Kila My dive partner our bond and understanding of each other under true live or die circumstance will never be broken- You are the Man! Thanks to Chief Rapaon and Diana, many chiefs villagers, members of congress You will all be duly noted individually, hundreds of You are contributors! Finally the man who introduced Mr. Snavely and I, Alfred McMillan who is a very highly skilled dive expert himself, a very successful business owner and father, Alfred You are a good and trusted friend and one of the coolest guys that I have ever known, thanks!

Tracy Wildrix