Where's Amelia Earhart? Experts to discuss mystery of missing aviator and how it may be solved Where's Amelia Earhart? Experts to discuss mystery of missing aviator and how it may be solved (February 09, 2005)

Venture capitalist Reid Dennis of Woodside will be one of two experts to speak at a forum on Amelia Earhart and present-day plans to locate her plane 67 years after her disappearance.

Mr. Dennis will speak at 11 a.m. Saturday, February 12, at Hiller Aviation Museum at 601 Skyway Road in San Carlos. The second speaker will be Elgen Long, author of "Amelia Earhart, the mystery solved," who will speak at 1:30 p.m. at the same location.

Ms. Earhart disappeared in 1937 as she was flying the longest leg of her around-the-world flight.

Her plane was never found and, for more than 60 years, rumors have persisted about what happened to her.

A new expedition to discover her fate is scheduled in March, said Hiller spokesman William Turner.

The Nauticos Corp. is planning an expedition to search for and recover the plane in water 17,000 feet deep in the Pacific Ocean, he said.

Mr. Dennis, a lifelong aviation enthusiast, flew Ms. Earhart's route, in 1997. His plane accompanied that of Texas aviator Linda Finch, who was re-creating the ill-fated journey around the equator.

Ms. Finch's journey was filmed from Mr. Dennis' seaplane, which also escorted Ms. Finch in case she needed help.

After the flight's conclusion, Mr. Dennis used footage from the journey to produce a documentary, entitled "The Final Hours: Amelia Earhart's Last Flight," which has aired on local PBS stations.

The February 12 forum is free and open to the public. For more information, call 654-0200 or go to www.hiller.org.

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