Another Amelia Earhart Completes Namesake’s Mission

There is another Amelia Earhart taking to the skies these days, and she just completed the mission that her namesake originally tackled. This Amelia, who is 31, posted about her proud accomplishment via Twitter and many followed along with her hashtag “#flywithamelia.”

The original Earhart, of course, went missing in 1937 as she attempted to fly around the globe. Sadly, that Amelia never made it home again, and just what happened to her has been an engaging mystery for decades. Now another Amelia Earhart threw herself into the idea of completing what her namesake could not and she has just succeeded.

This Earhart is not related to the famous Amelia, and she was not even into aviation for much of her life. However, she felt drawn to the connection with the missing aviator and decided to pursue making the trip herself. Amelia used to be a reporter in Denver and Los Angeles, and about a decade ago she decided to take flying lessons. The SF Gate Blog notes that Earhart earned her private pilot license in 2010, and now she can say she has completed the big journey.

According to The Telegraph, this Amelia Earhart was indeed named by her parents for the original pilot who disappeared over the South Pacific. It seems they chose the name because they wanted their daughter to have “a name that was filled with inspiration, adventure and tenacity.” As a teen, Amelia resented the moniker and the expectations it carried. She even went by the name Amy for some time. As an adult, however, her perspective changed. Now she feels that it was “the best gift that my parents could have ever given me.”

The Colorado native just completed the original Amelia’s journey after a 16-day, 28,000-mile trip. She says, “It was an amazing journey. We feel like we had Amelia there with us, symbolically closing her flight plan.” Earhart has created the Fly with Amelia Foundation, a group that offers teenage girls flying scholarships. It certainly seems that Amelia now fully embraces the connection to the original pilot her name has provided her.

The completed trip marks the first time a woman in a single-engine aircraft has successfully flown around the globe. The first Amelia Earhart will always remain an icon for what she tried to accomplish, along with her mysterious disappearance. However, now there is another Amelia Earhart who has shown she is a force to be reckoned with as well.

[Image via Amelia Earhart Twitter]