Flying a really nice, six seat big single engine Piper Saratoga (worth about $160,000 today), from central New Jersey to Martha’s Vineyard on July 16, 1999 evening was a delightful flight to look forward to but in the case of 38 year old John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. it ended with three dead. Kennedy was flying a great airplane, the PA-32R-301, which is an aircraft that could comfortably cruise at 165 miles an hour. It had a 300 horsepower engine, could lift 1,589 pounds and fly 1,000 miles without refueling. The flight should have taken about 80 minutes. He left at 8:39 PM and at 10:05 PM the air traffic controller realized he had not arrived as expected.
Kennedy had crashed in the ocean off the West end of Martha’s Vineyard. The three bodies, JFK Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren, were also killed. They were found with their seat belts attached and were recovered on July 22nd.
Why the aircraft crashed into the ocean just short of Martha’s Vineyard is a mystery. Lots of speculation but no clear set of reasons for the crash. The aircraft had three rows of seats. His wife and her sister were seated together in the second row of seats. Kennedy was piloting the aircraft with no help from either passenger. The government investigators analysed and reported in considerable detail, the condition of the broken and crushed aircraft after it was recovered in pieces from the ocean floor. The full report from the TSRB is HERE.It does not show a clear set of reasons for the accident but it seems to be “pilot error”. The “error” is really a whole set of errors, mistakes, poor decisions and wrong judgments. The aircraft was not at fault. Kennedy may not have had navigation maps and charts in the aircraft, maps and charts that list the radio settings and frequencies that would have been needed to fly in the weather conditions in which he found himself.
He seemed to have had sufficient experience and instruction. He had flown about 310 hours. He scored 78 in the written exam. The Saratoga is a rather straightforward and rather benign aircraft to fly with no surprising habits or problems.
The visibility outside the aircraft was a major factor for the accident, along with insufficient experience flying in marginal visibility weather but the government report did not report on how intimidating it is for a non-approved pilot to ask the government for help in the conditions in which JFK Jr. found himself. The government will not take the blame for it’s looming presence and it’s vengeful and dictatorial position and it’s certain punishment if JFK Jr. asked for help but lacked the official papers and government approvals to do what was needed which was an instrument approach to Martha’s Vineyard airport at night with poor visibility. .
A pilot can easily get help but the first thing the government air controllers would ask or would try to find out ASAP is if the pilot is instrument rated and qualified. Every pilot knows there are serious consequences for a so called “UNQUALIFIED” pilot who dares to use “the system”.
If Kennedy tried to use air traffic control his lack of the piece of paper that shows the world the government has approved him to fly in instrument meteorological conditions would be found out even if it was after he landed. Government assures everyone they want to make flying safe which is why they inserted themselves into every flying moment. They literally are everywhere. They enforce their rules. There’s no way out. Kennedy would have been in serious, serious trouble if he asked for help without proper prior approval by the government to be flying in those conditions.
Maybe the government helped cause the crash by their intimidation. They made it intellectually difficult, almost psychologically impossible perhaps overwhelmingly impossible for Kennedy to invite them to prosecute him for trying to fly to a wedding if he asked for their help.
Air traffic control and the men and women who are in the system are wonderful. Always ready and more than willing to help a pilot get to his or her destination easily and safely. ATC is as important as the instruments in and on the aircraft but they can make it almost impossible for a pilot in Kennedy’s situation to avoid the consequences of using the ATC system without having followed all of the regulations. The reports written by the bureaucrats don’t mention their possible cause for making a difficult situation even worse.
Kennedy seemed to have been under considerable stress, stress that wold have been aggravated and increased by the looming presence of government. Physically he could have easily radioed for and received all sorts of options from the helpful ATC people. Why he didn’t ask for it is part of the mystery. It could be as simple as his not having the Instrument Approach Charts on the aircraft. Without that chart, actually a series of charts shoeing the various instrument approaches to Martha’s Vineyard airport. He would have had a difficult time following the instrument approach procedure unless he had the proper charts. But there were other, safe options. Kennedy was in way over his flight experience. He probably didn’t know that so he continued on a flight when he should have turned around or flown to some other airport and rented a car except it’s impossible to drive to Martha’s Vineyard. He would have had to get the ferry but the ferry service was simply not available at that time of night.
ATC could have given him easy to follow and easy to fly instructions to get to the runways at Martha’s Vineyard airport. All he had to do to remain legally entitled to use ATC would be to say something like: “I’ve lost visual contact and would like a vector to MV airport”. They would have used all of their powers to get him safely onto the ground.
But blaming ATC is not going to solve the Kennedy mystery. ATC helped me immensely over the years. As an instrument and multi-engine pilot with over 2,000 hours of flying time I know from personal experience how helpful ATC can be and has been. This is the time for me to personally thank them for all of their wonderful help including something as mundane as giving me taxi instructions at 2 in the morning at Wittman Field at Oshkosh, Wisconsin so my son and myself could pitch a tent on the airport grass right next to the taxiway, get some sleep and watch the show at the Experimental Aircraft Annual fly-in. Make that show if you can. Whether you fly or not, it’s spectacular. This year it’s from July 24th to July 30. See the Blue Angles. Meet astronaut Buzz Aldren. More info HERE. .
This was the second fatal accident involving Martha’s Vineyard and a Kennedy. JFK Jr’s uncle “Ted” Kennedy was 37 years old when he was involved in a car accident almost 30 years to the day from JFK Jr’s accident. Teddy’s accident killed Mary Jo Kopechne on July 18, 1969.
The crash that killed JFK Jr. was quickly investigated because of the possibility of foul play because of JFK Jr. high visibility in American social circles.
It was another aircraft accident that did not have to happen but it did. It’s probably incorrect to say that JFK Jr. killed himself because he certainly didn’t want to do that. It was a preventable accident in which three people died. JFK Jr. should have turned around and found another airport where he could have safely landed the aircraft and figured out his next move. Sadly he didn’t and he along with two young women died as a result.
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