9 Chapter 8 The Final Flight

Chapter 8 The Final Flight Amelia Earhart wanted to fly around the world. Although other pilots had circled the globe, she would fly close to the equator. This would make a longer and harder trip—29,000 miles. A special plane was needed—a new Lockheed model called the Electra. The plane was large enough to carry ten passengers. But Amelia had the seats removed. Extra fuel tanks were put in. This allowed the plane to fly up to three thousand miles before stopping to refuel.

阿米莉亚·埃尔哈特想环游世界。 虽然其他飞行员已经环游过地球，但她将在靠近赤道的地方飞行。 这将是一次更长的、更艰难的旅行——29,000英里。 需要一种特殊的飞机——一种叫做伊莱克特拉的洛克希德新型飞机。 这架飞机足够大，可以载十名乘客。 但是阿米莉亚把座位移走了。 额外的燃料箱被放进去了。 这使得飞机在停下来加油之前可以飞行3000英里。

The Electra had new radio equipment. Amelia would be able to communicate by voice and code. It also had two engines that made it more complicated to fly. Amelia had to train with different pilots to learn how to fly it. It would take months to prepare for the trip. Amelia and George hired two navigators to fly with Amelia. They would help Amelia stay on course.

伊莱克特拉号有新的无线电设备。 阿米莉亚将能够通过声音和密码进行交流。 它还有两个引擎，这使得飞行更加复杂。 阿米莉亚不得不和不同的飞行员一起训练，学习如何驾驶它。 准备这次旅行需要几个月的时间。 阿米莉亚和乔治雇了两名领航员和阿米莉亚一起飞行。 他们会帮助阿米莉亚保持航向。

The flight path would go from east to west. Amelia would take off from California and head toward Hawaii. On March 17, 1937, the Electra left Oakland, California. Amelia and her two navigators arrived in Honolulu about 16 hours later. The first leg of the trip was a success. Then Amelia had an accident. As Amelia was taking off from Honolulu, the plane lurched out of control. The landing gear collapsed. A wing was torn open. Luckily, no one was hurt. But the $100,000 plane was badly damaged. It had to be shipped back to Lockheed on the mainland. Almost two months went by before the plane was ready to fly again.

飞行路线将从东到西。 阿米莉亚将从加利福尼亚起飞，飞往夏威夷。 1937年3月17日，伊莱克特拉号离开加州奥克兰。 阿米莉亚和她的两名领航员在大约16小时后抵达檀香山。 这次旅行的第一站很成功。 然后阿米莉亚出了意外。 当阿米莉亚从檀香山起飞时，飞机突然失去了控制。 起落架塌陷了。 一只翅膀被撕开了。幸运的是，没有人受伤。 但这架价值10万美元的飞机严重受损。 它必须被运回大陆的洛克希德公司。 差不多两个月过去了，飞机才准备好再次飞行。

Because of the delay, one of the navigators could not continue the flight. That left only the other man—Fred Noonan. There was also another change. Due to weather patterns, the flight path had to be reversed. Amelia would now fly from west to east. On May 21, Amelia left Oakland, California, and headed east to Miami, Florida. The whole world was watching. The trip started off well. From Miami, Amelia flew to Puerto Rico. Then she flew along the east coast of South America to Venezuela, then on to Surinam and Brazil. The Electra was holding up well. But there was not much room to move around. Amelia communicated with Fred Noonan by passing notes on a fishing pole. It was better than climbing over the extra fuel tanks.

由于延误，其中一名导航员无法继续飞行。 只剩下另一个人——弗雷德·努南。 还有另一个变化。 由于天气原因，飞行路线不得不改变。 阿米莉亚现在将从西向东飞行。 5月21日，阿米莉亚离开加州的奥克兰，向东前往佛罗里达州的迈阿密。 全世界都在看。 这次旅行开始得很顺利。 阿米莉亚从迈阿密飞往波多黎各。 然后她沿着南美东海岸飞往委内瑞拉，然后飞往苏里南和巴西。 伊莱克特拉号运行良好。 但是没有太多的活动空间。 阿米莉亚通过在鱼竿上传递纸条与弗雷德·努南交流。 这比爬过多余的油箱好多了。

Amelia flew over forty hours and four thousand miles in the first week. And that was just the beginning. She flew over the Atlantic and crossed to Africa. Within three weeks she had flown twenty thousand miles in 135 hours. Amelia was getting tired. She would be glad when the long hours of flying were over.

阿米莉亚在第一个星期飞行了40多个小时，飞行了4000英里。 而这仅仅是个开始。 她飞越大西洋，来到非洲。 在三个星期内，她在135小时内飞行了2万英里。 阿米莉亚累了。长时间的飞行结束后，她会很高兴的。

By July 1, Amelia had reached New Guinea. From New Guinea she'd go to Howland Island and then to Honolulu, Hawaii. The next—and last—stop would be Oakland, California. There were only 7,000 miles left on the 29,000 mile trip. Most of these last miles were over the Pacific Ocean.

7月1日，阿米莉亚到达了新几内亚。 从新几内亚出发，她会去豪兰岛，然后去夏威夷的檀香山。 下一站也是最后一站是加州的奥克兰。 29000英里的旅程只剩下7000英里了。 这最后的几英里大部分都在太平洋上空。