Andrew McKenna was the Dive Team leader on the Niku IX expedition. He has been a TIGHAR member since 1990 and currently serves on the organization’s Board of Directors. The son of famous paleontologist Malcolm McKenna, Andrew’s archaeological eye was trained from childhood helping his father on fossil hunts in the Gobi Desert and other remote locations. Andrew participated in underwater and onshore archaeological operations on four previous TIGHAR expeditions to Nikumaroro (2001, 2007, 2010, & 2015) and was on the TIGHAR team that surveyed the Maid of Harlech in Wales in 2007.

In Episode Seventeen of the Chasing Earhart podcast, Andrew gives us his thoughts on the work that TIGHAR has done on Nikumaroro over the course of the last 28 years as well as the role underwater exploration and maritime archeology plays in the search for Amelia  Earhart, Fred Noonan and their Lockheed Electra.