It is believed Earhart ran out of fuel and landed the plane on the ocean surface and that the craft later sank to the bottom.
Social media posts of the Alaska Airlines jet showed oxygen masks deployed and a portion of the aircraft's side wall missing.
Officials at Japan's second-biggest airline on Wednesday said the crew followed emergency procedures in textbook fashion, starting with the first rule: panic control.
All 379 passengers and crew on board the Japan Airlines flight were evacuated, but five of the six aboard the Coast Guard plane with which it collided are reported killed.
187th Israeli Air Force pilot graduates in the midst of war on Hamas
The plane had stopped in Larnaca in Cyprus's southeastern coast in order to avoid precedent of a direct flight from the Qatari capital to Tel Aviv.
Former boxer Floyd Mayweather's support for Israel goes beyond social media, as he dispatches his private plane with essential supplies for IDF soldiers.
A State Department email seen by Reuters said it plans to offer transit options beginning on Friday "but it will take some period of time to schedule everyone seeking to depart."
The incident raised questions as to why a military evacuation was necessary when commercial flights were available, and illustrated the decrepit state of Austria's armed forces.
There are safety, practical and perhaps also historical reasons why passengers always board the plane from the left side. And what does all this have to do with boat oars?