Search and Rescue

The puzzle refers to an Electra 10E, which was the model of plane flown by Amelia Earhart.

<spoiler> From the audio, you hear that the plane was 858 miles from station 29 at 1330. Draw a circle out to 858 miles.

At 3:30 in the video, the fireworks spell out the letters M X V I I. Using these as a Roman number gives 1017.

Draw a circle 1017 miles out from station 102.

The audio said that the plane was twice as far from station 49 as station 102. 1017*2=2034. Draw a circle 2034 miles out from station 102.

The circles all overlap at the point GJ1. </spoiler>

<spoiler> Just look at the place that the end of the pencil is pointing to on the very first screen. Coincidence? The answer is GJ1. </spoiler>

<spoiler> It's possible to solve this one without even looking at the site video.

Click on the nautical map so that it fills the screen. The goal is to figure out where the lost plane is located, and you need to do it by trilateration. The three stations (shown with the flashing red circles around them) can help you find the missing plane.

Click on the radio mouthpiece in the lower left to hear the transmission. People from the three stations should start talking back and forth.

You should get two useful pieces of information:

1) Station 29 (on the top side) tells you that the lost plane was 858 nautical miles away at 3:30. So click on station 29 and drag the circle until the radius shows 858 nautical miles exactly. This means that the lost plane is somewhere on that circle, which narrows down the possibilities quickly.

Now it's time to use the other bit of information:

2) Station 102 reports their distance from the plane at 3:30, but it is drowned out by static. However, station 47 says that they were twice as far from the plane as station 102. This is enough to pinoint the location, because only one point on the circle can satisfy that condition. How do you figure out where it is?

Start by drawing a circle around station 102, and make it touch the circle around station 29. Note the distance. Then draw a circle around station 47 until it touches one of the two points where the other two circles intersect. If the radius of the circle around station 47 is more than twice that of the radius of the circle around 102, then your circle around 102 is too small. Start over and make your circle around 102 bigger. If the radius of the circle around station 47 is less then twice that around 102, then your circle around 102 is too big. Make it smaller and try again. When the distance from 47 is exactly twice that of 102, then you've got your answer.

The distances need not be exactly perfect, only close enough to identify the correct grid cell where they meet.

Through trial and error, you will find that the correct distance from station 102 is about 1010 nautical miles, and all three circles intersect at grid location GJ1.

The answer to the puzzle is "GJ1".

- Jason Horner </spoiler>

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