Amelia Rose Earhart begins round the world flight in honor of namesake

OAKLAND, Calif. (WLS) -- Amelia Rose Earhart, who was named after but is not related to Amelia Earhart, departed from Oakland International Airport Thursday on a flight around the world in honor of her namesake.

The trip, dubbed "The Amelia Project," is meant to recreate and symbolically complete the 1937 around-the-world flight Amelia Mary Earhart never finished when she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. Earhart is traveling in a Pilatus PC 12-NG plane.

The trip is expected to take a minimum of 17 days and at least 100 hours of flight time. Amelia Rose is joined by her co-pilot Shane Jordan, and will make stops in Denver, Colo.; Miami, Fla.; Trinidad and Tobago; Natal, Brazil; Dakar, Senegal' Sao Tome and Principe, Africa'; Kilimanjaro Airport, Tanzania; Seychelles, Africa; Male, Maldives; Seletar, Singapore; Darwin, Australia; Nadzab, Papua New Guinea; Bonriki, Tarawa; Cassidy Island, Kirbati; and Honolulu, Hawaii.

The plane's cockpit will be outfitted with multiple cameras and Amelia Rose will be uploading videos throughout the flight. Those videos, along with a flight tracker, will be available on www.ameliaearhartproject.com.

Upon completion of the flight, Amelia Rose will become the youngest woman to circumnavigate the globe in a single-engine aircraft.