she was also very good friends with jackie cochran who was a bit younger, an up-and-coming racing pilot. they were very good friends as well. so, in 1936, earhart decided that making a world flight would make a difference, would be a good idea for her to do. and she also wanted to fly a route that no one else had flown before, as close to the equator as possible. most around the world flights, you had to do a certain amount of miles to qualify for it. but most people took a northern or southerly route because it was so far, and most airplanes frankly did not have the range to go hopping around the world at the equator. and that was a tall order. and it was something that she and george really had to work out, where her landing would be if she did take this route. electra,ed a lockheed another beautiful lockheed design, called the flying laboratory because perdue helped pay for it, quite a bit. it was equipped with a variety of new types of radios and transmitters and things like that, directional finders, that she was going to "test out" as she was making the flight. . that is what all