Amelia Earhart Namesake to Retrace Pilot's Steps, Fly Around World

Amelia Rose Earhart, a distant relative of the famous aviator, is planning to retrace the global route that claimed her namesake in 1937.

The 30-year-old Earhart, a pilot since 2004, plans to depart in June 2014 from Oakland on a two-week, 14-stop, 28,000 mile trek. With Arkansas businessman Patrick Carter as her co-pilot, Earhart will fly a Swiss-built, single-engine prop plane to Brazil, Senegal, Nigeria, Djibouti, India, Thailand, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

The odyssey will make her "the youngest woman to fly around the world in a single-engine aircraft," according to The Amelia Project's website.

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"Aviation plays an integral role in my life and I hope to share some of that joy with others through this adventure," Earhart said in a statement Wednesday at the EAA AirVenture fly-in in Oshkosh, Wis., according to the AFP.

Earhart is a television news personality in Colorado and is a self-help blogger, AFP reports.

The late Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic solo in 1932. She vanished on July 2, 1937, near Howland Island during the Pacific leg of her attempted flight around the world. She was 39. An expedition in May to find the wreckage of her twin-engine Lockheed Electra claimed to have located part of the fuselage.

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which has been investigating the disappearance of Earhart and her airplane for decades, found an "anomaly" via sonar image at the depth of about 600 feet off Nikumaroro Island in the small South Seas republic of Kiribati.

The younger Earhart traces her ancestral connection to the 18th century. Amelia Mary Earhart had no children.

"In 1937, she began a flight around the globe and disappeared over the South Pacific, becoming one of history's greatest mysteries. Over 75 years after her disappearance, Amelia continues to inspire adventure and flight through her bold courage and desire to open doors for women in aviation," Amelia R. Earhart wrote on the website. "...We will fly a Pilatus PC-12NG around the globe, completing the flight that Amelia never got to finish. When the flight is complete, I will be the youngest woman to fly around the world in a single engine aircraft, honoring Amelia's tenacity and love for aviation possibilities along the way."

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