John F. Kennedy Jr. is a lawyer, journalist, publisher of American magazine, and son of President John F. Kennedy. On July 16, 1999, Kennedy died when his plane flew into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Kennedy's wife, Carolyn Bessette, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, also participated and died. Piper Saratoga has departed from Essex County Airport, and its intended route is along the Connecticut coastline and across Rhode Island Sound to the final destination of Martha's Vineyard Airport.
The official inquiry by the National Transportation Safety Council (NTSB) concluded that Kennedy became the victim of spatial disorientation when he descended over the water at night and consequently lost control of his plane. Kennedy has no instrument rating and therefore he is only certified to fly under visual flight regulations. At the time of the crash, weather and light conditions such that all base markers are obscured, making the flight visually challenging, though legally still allowed.
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On the night of July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. piloted Piper Saratoga to attend her cousin's wedding, Rory, to Mark Bailey. The plane also brought Kennedy's wife, Carolyn Bessette, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette. Kennedy had bought his plane three months before the accident. The Bessette sisters sat on the second row of seats, facing the back of the plane and back to back with the pilot's seat.
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Timeline of events
Flights
Kennedy checked in with an air traffic control tower at Martha's Vineyard Airport before his departure. At 8:39 pm on July 16, Kennedy departs from Essex County Airport. At 10:05 pm, the air traffic controller at Martha's Vineyard Airport contacted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) office in Bridgeport, Connecticut about Kennedy's failure to arrive, but was told that no information could be released by phone.
Coast Guard notified
At 2:15 am on July 17, the Kennedys reported to the local Air Guard Station that the plane had not arrived. At 4 am, the US Coast Guard started a search and rescue operation. Kennedy's cousin Anthony Stanislas Radziwill told the press that if Kennedy was alive, "He will find a way to get out, he has the will to survive, enough desire for the three of them." Officials are not optimistic to find Kennedy alive after several pieces of his plane were found in the Atlantic Ocean. "There's always hope," Coast Guard Lieutenant Gary Jones said. "But unfortunately, when you find certain evidence, you have to be ready for anything."
President Clinton's Response
President Bill Clinton talked with Kennedy's eldest sister, Caroline, and then called his uncle, Ted. Clinton also spoke with Andrew Cuomo, who married Kennedy's cousin Kerry at the time. "He wanted to tell them that he thought of them, that we would do everything we could, and that our prayers were with them," said Clinton spokesman Joe Lockhart. Clinton ordered a US Navy warship to help search for Kennedy planes. Critics argue that the search is a misuse of taxpayer dollars, as no ordinary citizens will receive similar treatment. Clinton said that afternoon that Kennedy had "suffered a lot, and was given more," and he also called them to feel "the power of God, the love of their friends and the prayers of their fellow citizens."
Debris and corpses recover
On July 19, NOAA Rudy Rudy finally found a fragment of a Kennedy plane using a side-scan sonar. The Rude captures the high-resolution images used to create three-dimensional maps of the ocean floor. At 11:30 pm on July 20, the USNS Grasp rescue ship (T-ARS-51) identified aircraft. Naval Divers found aircraft parts strewn over a vast area of ​​120 feet (37 m) high seabed below the surface.
On the afternoon of July 21, the divers found the body of Kennedy and Bessette's sister. Divers found Bessette's sister near the fuselage, while Kennedy himself was still tied to his seat. Admiral Rear Admiral Richard M. Larrabee said the three bodies were "near and below" the plane, still bound. The bodies were taken to the local medical examiner's office with a motorcade. An autopsy on the night of July 21 by the county medical examiner's office found that all three had died in a collision. At the same time, the Kennedys and Bessette family announced their plans for a memorial service. After the autopsy was completed, the three bodies were taken from Hyannis to Duxbury, Massachusetts, where they were cremated in the Mayflower Cemetery crematorium.
Investigation
The National Transportation Safety Council (NTSB) officially declared that Kennedy planes had crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard; the probable cause of the accident was a pilot's error: "Kennedy's failure to maintain control of the aircraft during nighttime descent, which is the result of spatial disorientation." Kennedy is not eligible to fly his aircraft with "only tools". The accident occurred under conditions that did not legally require such qualifications. Another pilot besides Kennedy who flew a similar route on the night of the accident reported no visual horizon due to fog.
Possible contributing factors
Smog and visibility
The atmospheric conditions along the Kennedy aviation route on the night of the accident are sometimes blurred, which can cause spatial disorientation for the pilot. However, the weather is officially listed as a "visual meteorological condition" (VMC), which allows Kennedy to fly under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) rather than Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), as it has no instrument rating. However, very poor visibility in Essex County, New Jersey, and airports along the Kennedy aviation route report visibilities between 5 and 8 miles with fog and some clouds. Some pilots fly the same route as Kennedy on the night of the accident reporting no visual horizon over water due to fog. Also, the NTSB reported on one pilot who canceled a similar flight that night due to "bad" weather. Conditions near the crash site are: "The sky is clear at or below 12,000 feet, visibility is 10 miles".
- Pilot experience
Kennedy first obtained his personal pilot license in 1998, and received a "high-performance aircraft" and "plane complex" support two months before the accident. The total estimated flight experience before the accident was about 310 hours, of which 55 hours were at night. Estimated flight time on the plane crash about 36 hours, about 9.4 hours are at night. About 3 hours of the flight time was without Flight Certified Instructor (CFI) on board, and only 48 minutes that time was flown at night, which included nightly landing.
It is unclear how much of his total flight experience was in the type of plane that crashed or on another more basic Kennedy plane, Cessna Skylane 182. Fifteen months before the accident, Kennedy flew about 35 flights to or from northern New Jersey and the Martha's Vineyard area. Kennedy flew over 17 feet without CFI on board, including at least five at night. His last known flight on his plane without CFI occurred two months before the accident happened.
Pilot training
During the night training flight under instrument conditions, the instructor stated that Kennedy has the ability to fly a plane without a clear horizon but may have difficulty performing additional tasks under such conditions. He also stated that the pilot is not ready for instrument evaluation, and requires additional training. The instructor at the time of the accident was unaware that Kennedy would fly in such conditions without an instructor aboard. The CFI further stated that he had spoken with Kennedy on the night of the accident and offered to fly with him that night. He states that Kennedy has the ability to make night flights to Martha's Vineyard as long as there is a visible horizon.
Psychological stress
The NTSB suggests that Kennedy's marriage may have contributed to the source of stress at the time of the accident. In addition, Kennedy magazine, George George, is in serious financial trouble. According to the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM): "the stress of everyday life can disrupt the performance of the pilot, often in a subtle way.discussions may impair judgment that unnecessary risks are taken, such as flying into worsening weather conditions to keep the schedule.
Pilot interruption
Kennedy's plane flew on the same track as American Airlines Flight 1484, which was approaching Westchester County Airport.
End of departure
The flight was originally scheduled for daylight, but had to be postponed after Kennedy's brother-in-law was delayed at work. The heavy traffic further delayed Kennedy's flight and pushed it back until after dark. Originally planned to leave at 6:00 pm, the Kennedy plane departed at 8:39 pm. instead, almost half an hour after sunset. At the time of takeoff, the moon is just above the horizon and provides little light.
No flight plan or help request
Kennedy never received any weather guidance or submitted a flight plan with the Aviation Service Station. Except for the take-off part of the flight, Kennedy did not contact the air traffic controllers; during the flight, he never asked for help or declared a state of emergency. Under the conditions of his flight, Kennedy was not asked to file a flight plan, and because he did not, no one knew the exact route or time expected of his arrival. According to Weather Service International, as reported in an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, Kennedy made two requests for weather before taking off. The information given to him shows that visibility ranges from 10 miles along the route to four miles on Martha's Vineyard.
Over-water flight without magnet
Shortly after passing Point Judith, Rhode Island, the Kennedy plane headed straight for Martha's Vineyard. Instead of following the coastline of Rhode Island Sound and Buzzards Bay, which will provide visible light on the ground, Kennedy chose the shorter path and directly over an expanse of 30 miles (50 km). According to the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook, crossing large bodies of water at night may be very dangerous, not only from the point of view of ditching in the water, but also because the horizon with no visually blending properties with water, which in this case the perception of depth and orientation becomes difficult.
Foot injury
Six weeks before the accident, Kennedy had cracked his left ankle in a paragliding accident over Memorial Day weekend. He underwent surgery and put on a cast that was released the day before a fatal flight. He still walked limp on the day of the accident. During the interview, orthopedic surgeon Kennedy stated that, at the time of the accident, he would be able to apply the kind of pressure normally required to drive a car.
Incorrect radio frequency
While the NTSB inspected the ruins, they soon discovered that both Kennedy radios had the wrong frequency selected. Kennedy had accidentally selected 127.25 for ATIS Martha Vineyard instead of 126.25; also, it chooses 135.25 for Essex County ATIS, but it should be 135.5. NTSB declined to comment on the contribution of this factor in an accident, if any.
Aftermath
On the morning of July 22, the family brought the bodies of Kennedy cremated to the USS Briscoe . The ashes then spread to the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard. The vessel was used for public memorial rites with the permission of US Defense Secretary William Cohen. Briscoe spends about half an hour from the southwest coast of the Vineyard. He was two or three miles away from the crash site.
President Bill Clinton ordered the flags at the White House to be downgraded to half the staff in honor of Kennedy. During a public memorial service for Kennedy, father's uncle, Ted, states:
We dare to think, in another Irish phrase, that this John Kennedy would live combing gray hair, with his beloved Carolyn by his side. But, like his father, he has every gift but over the years.
The episodes of two Canadian series, Final 24 and Air Disasters , both explored Kennedy's life and death details, and the events surrounding the plane crash.
See also
- Kennedy's curse - sums up a series of unfortunate and tragic events involving Kennedy family members
References
External links
- NTSB Brief of Accident
- NTSB Document and Docket Item - NYC99MA178 Accident ID
- Weather Weather.com: Why JFK Jr. Aircraft Down 12/30/14
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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