Fred Noonan author of an article in "Journal of Navigation", Vol. 9, No. 3, December 2011, avers that due to insufficient fuel reserves from 1912 GMT, no land other than Howland itself and Baker at 45 miles could be reached. With a maximum ferry range of 2,740 statute miles even the closest islands Winslow Reef and McKean Island at 210 and 350 miles away respectively, were unreachable. Although Fred Noonan has left a much smaller mark in popular culture than Amelia Earhart's, his legacy is remembered sporadically. Noonan is often mentioned in W.P. Kinsella's novels. Noonan was portrayed by actor David Graf
Michael Noonan (filmmaker) of the ARC Centre for Excellence in Creative Industries, wrote a piece in defense of QUT and Noonan in "The Courier-Mail" called 'Taking Arts into the Digital Era'. Michael Noonan posted an extended response in "The Australian" on 5 September 2007, entitled 'I am the one who has been humiliated'. The article countered many of the claims made by Hookham and Maclennan. Noonan wrote: "Hookham and MacLennan have claimed that their concerns about my work were ignored by me and the internal channels within the university. This is untrue. Their outburst at my confirmation was unsettling and abusive, but I