Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

Amelia Earhart exhibit opens at Museum of Flight

By Herald staff

SEATTLE -- You can take a non-Hollywood look at the life and legacy of Amelia Earhart when an exhibition about her life opens Oct. 31 at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Debra Plymate will be on hand at the museum at 2 p.m. that day to talk about Earhart's life and philosophy as well as her legacy.

"Amelia was extremely motivated and had an outstanding outlook on life," Plymate said in a news release. "Keeping her memory alive and sharing her inspiration is what matters most. Her disappearance was a heartbreaking tragedy of the sea, but the story of her life is a gift we can share forever."

Plymate, who grew up in Oregon, comes from an aviation family. She learned to fly in 1974 and was an oceanic controller in the Pacific for a time for the Federal Aviation Agency.

She also worked at the Oakland Airport in California, which is where Earhart departed from on her world flight.

She has done extensive research on the disappearance of Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan, who are believed to have disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean near Howland Island on July 2, 1937.

The Museum of Flight is at 9404 E. Marginal Way South, Seattle. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Admission is $14 for ages 18-64, $10 for military personnel, $7.50 for ages 5-17. Kids 4 and younger are free.

More information about the museum and the Earhart exhibition, which runs through the end of the year, is online at www.museumofflight. org.