Earhart: Time Traveler

[The Yosemite Bear]

ok, there's a new movie out today about her so I decided to create a little Donnie Darko/Final Countdown esq senario. Say a wormhole opens up present day, and Earhart's Lockheed Electra flies out of it, having been displaced Seventy plus years.

1. Hoax (or how many tests would have to be done to convince the majority otherwise)
2. how does she and her navigator adapt to being transported into the future
3. Public Reaction
4. does she get to claim to be the first sucessful time traveler
5. legal status?

[Solauren]

#1 - DNA Analysis would be sufficient. As would a mint / near mint condition operating plane

#2 - I think Earhart would be thrilled. Real progress has been made. No idea about her navigator.

#3 - Jaws on ground. Science: Does the existence of a Wormhole make FTL possible?

#4 - First documented accidental timetraveller

#5 - That would be interesting to watch unfold.

[The Romulan Republic]

Is it too cynical of me to expect she and her navigator would spend the rest of their lives locked in a government lab while they tried to figure out how she managed to time travel?

[Molyneux]

First thing to do, after helping her to acclimate, would be to get her on every television set on the planet.
Second thing would be to book my admission to the Time Travelers' Convention, before all of the good slots fill up.

[Gramzamber]

Is it too cynical of me to expect she and her navigator would spend the rest of their lives locked in a government lab while they tried to figure out how she managed to time travel?

Hey this isn't Stargate
If they appeared in a manner that it's quickly exposed to the public as the scenario seems to imply then the government would never get away with it.
I'm sure they'd be interned for some time for tests and what not but keeping them for any length of time would lead to a public outcry.

[B5B7]

Ha, an episode of Torchwood Out of Time had a similar thing - except the people involved only came from 1953 to 2006, and the plane had some passengers.
The Torchwood episode of course involved the Rift and wasn't any public knowledge - all hushed up by Torchwood.
An earlier treatment by The Twilight Zone had a simlilar resolution - the air force pilot being sent back where he came from. I should not mention a certain Voyager episode, The 37s.

In your scenario was the wormhole witnessed, or perhaps even recorded?
It would be extremely difficult to convince many people that it wasn't a hoax.
With DNA, it could be claimed that the archived DNA has been substituted. Does she or her navigator have any living relatives who could be DNA tested (& have enough personal evidence that they are genuine relatives - a decades long trail of photographic & documentary evidence and people who have known them for many years would be pretty solid).

Tissue analysis could be pretty good evidence - the chemicals and radiation traces in people who lived 70 years ago could show differences from those who have been living in the modern world. Even what bacteria are in their blood.
So, if a trusted body could do the required tests then they could gain wide acceptance as being who they claim to be.
Also, the plane itself should provide good supporting evidence - study of its materials, its fuel, etc. She would have log books and maps that could be examined. Any remnants of fungi or plant material in the plane & their clothing could also be indicative.

Plus expert specialist historians could question them - separately. There also may be some people still alive who personally knew them and might have some rememberance of incidents no one else knows about [although biographers and others might already have talked to these acquaintances, so that is contaminated evidence; however it could act as slightly supportive evidence].

[CaptainChewbacca]

With DNA, it could be claimed that the archived DNA has been substituted. Does she or her navigator have any living relatives who could be DNA tested (& have enough personal evidence that they are genuine relatives - a decades long trail of photographic & documentary evidence and people who have known them for many years would be pretty solid).

Amelia had a younger sister, Grace, who had two children; David and Amy. David is also deceased, but Amy is apparently alive and living in Maine. Both children had children of their own, so it looks like there's 7 or 8 doccumented descendants of Amelia's sister, who would have sufficient DNA to compare.

[Molyneux]

Folks, we are missing a golden opportunity for cross-over here. Do you have any idea who plays her navigator on the final flight?

A fellow by the name of Chris Eccleston.