This Day in Aviation History
July 16th, 1999
John F. Kennedy Jr. dies in a plane crash.
 
On July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. died when the airplane he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The two passengers on board, Kennedy’s wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren, were also killed. The Piper Saratoga light aircraft had departed from Essex County Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey, and its intended route was along the coastline of Connecticut and across Rhode Island Sound to Martha’s Vineyard Airport.
 
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the accident had been caused by “the pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation”. Kennedy did not hold an instrument rating and was certified to fly only under visual flight rules. However, at the time of the accident the weather and light conditions were such that all basic landmarks were obscured, making visual flight challenging, although legally still permissible……
 
Source:
Wikipedia, John F. Kennedy Jr. plane crash: http://gstv.us/1V5aSJl
 
YouTube, John F. Kennedy Jr. Airplane Crash (July 16, 1999): http://gstv.us/29zem4M
 
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Photo is meant to only represent JFK Jr’s aircraft.
Photo from: http://gstv.us/29zfllJ
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