The plane crash of John F. Kennedy Jr.

The Piper PA-32R-301 Saratoga II ( registration number N9253N, serial number 32-13100 ^[1] ) received a flight certificate on June 9, 1995, and was sold to Skytech, Inc. based in Baltimore ( Maryland ) on June 16. On January 5, 1996, the N9253N was resold by Poinciana LLC from Wilmington, North Carolina . In May 1998, during the annual (or every 100 hours) inspection of the aircraft, traces of corrosion were found in the engine, which at that time had 387.1 hours running hours, on the inner surface of the cylinders. Pitting corrosion was also observed on the surface of several valve pushers. Then the engine was sent for overhaul, where it was disassembled, inspected, replaced some parts with new ones, then assembled again, and then launched in the test chamber. The tests were successful, so in July 1998 the engine was installed back on board the N9253N ^[2] .

On August 25, 1998, the aircraft was acquired by Raytheon Aircraft Company ( Wichita , Kansas ), which on the same day resold it Air Bound Aviation, Inc. ( Fairfield , New Jersey ). On August 27, it was acquired by a private pilot from New Jersey. On April 16, 1999 the aircraft was checked by a commission from the Federal Aviation Administration and, with the exception of minor flaws, its technical condition was rated as very good. On April 28, the N9253N was bought by Columbia Aircraft Sales, Inc., which on the same day resold it back to Air Bound Aviation, Inc., which in turn sold the aircraft to John F. Kennedy Jr. On June 18, the plane, flying 622.8 hours, passed its last annual inspection. During the audit, it turned out that the make and model of the aircraft were incorrectly indicated in the registration form, so the N9253N was allowed to operate only on June 25, when a new registration form was received. On July 13, that is, three days before the crash, according to the technical journal of the aircraft, the oscillations of the planned navigation instrument and compass were checked. The flight of the aircraft at that time is not known. On the day of the crash, the plane, according to the testimony found among the wreckage of the tachometer, flew 663.5 hours. According to reports, prior to this, there were no incidents with the N9253N ^[2] .

The pilot of the plane was 38-year-old famous journalist and lawyer John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. , the first son of the 35th President of the United States John Fitzgerald Kennedy ( born John 25 Fitzgerald Kennedy ) (born November 25, 1960) . On October 4, 1982, he began training as an amateur pilot and over the next 6 years completed practical training with six different instructors. His raid for this period was 47 hours, 46 of which were in a double carriage with an instructor and 1 hour alone. From September 1988 to December 1997, according to reports, he did not fly, after which in December 1997 he began training as an amateur pilot in Vero Beach (Florida). In the period until April 1998 he made flights with a total duration of 53 hours, including 43 hours with an instructor on board. At a hearing later, the instructor rated Kennedy's skills as “very good.” On April 22, 1998, Kennedy passed a test for a private pilot of single-engine aircraft, after which he began flying on the Cessna 182, both independently and with an instructor. He was trained on the basis of Million Air and often flew their planes. In 1998, his flight time was 179 hours, of which 65 hours were without an instructor. March 12, 1999 passed a written exam at the Federal Aviation Administration , which scored 78% ^[2] .

On April 5, 1999, he began training in instrument flight and completed 11 of 25 lessons. During this training, I accumulated 13.3 hours of flying time and another 16.9 hours on simulators. The instructors noted that he had difficulties with some tasks, but this is normal for pilots of this level, and piloting the main instruments was nevertheless excellent. According to the instructor, Kennedy could have performed the flight “blindly”, without a visible horizon, although on July 1 of that year he was not yet ready for this. The instructor also recalled that Kennedy once said that he would like to perform such a flight ^{on his} own ^[2] .

The total flight time of John Kennedy Jr. on the day of the disaster was 310 hours, including 55 hours at night; self-raid was about 72 hours. Mostly he flew on the Cessna 182 , since May 1999 he began to fly on the acquired Piper Saratoga II. Directly on the "Saratoga" he flew 36 hours, of which 9.4 hours at night; self-raid - 3 hours, of which 0.8 hours at night, including night landing. Over the past 15 months, from Essex County (New Jersey) to Martas Vinyard (Massachusetts) or flown 35 times, of which 17 flights performed independently, including at least 5 night flights. Of the flights to Martas Vinyard with an instructor, approximately 6 or 7 was performed at night. The last known independent flight was performed on May 28, 1999 ^[2] .

On July 16, 1999, at about 13:00 ^{[* 1]} John Kennedy Jr. arrived at the local Essex airport, which was located in the district of the same name near the city of Caldwell , and confirmed to the local dispatcher that he intends to fly his plane to Martas Vinyard Island today ( Massachusetts ). John further said that he would arrive at the airport at approximately 5.30 p.m. to 6 p.m., to which the dispatcher said that the N9253N board would be parked outside the hangar. Kennedy headed to Martas-Vinyard to attend the wedding of his cousin Rory Kennedy , and his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette flew with him. Witnesses who were loading the plane saw the pilot with a woman, while the pilot was on crutches (John was injured shortly before). The sunset was at 20:14, and at 20:34 already in the twilight conditions, the N9253N board contacted the taxiing manager and reported: Saratoga nine two five three November are ready to taxi to the strip ... departure in a northeast direction . The taxi manager instructed to follow to strip number 22, which the pilot confirmed. At 20:38:32, Kennedy got in touch with the take-off and landing controller (Essex Tower) and reported that he was ready to take off. At 20:38:39 the dispatcher gave this permission, the receipt of which the pilot confirmed at 20:38:43. After a few seconds, the dispatcher asked if the plane was heading to Teterboro , to which they answered: No, sir. In fact, I'm heading a little north ... east . Then the dispatcher gave the pilot the right to take off from the leeward side of the strip, to which at 20:38:56 the pilot announced the take-off from strip No. 22. This was the last radio exchange with the N9253N ^[2] .

According to data from radars, at 20:40:59 at a distance of about 1.6 kilometers southwest of the airport of departure, the plane rose to a height of about 400 meters. Following the 55 ° course, the aircraft reached the Hudson River at an altitude of 430 meters, while being 12.8 kilometers northwest of the Westchester County Airport near White Plains , after which it made a northward turn over the river and began to climb . Having flown so north 9.6 kilometers, the Kennedy plane then turned east and, heading at a 100 ° course, continued to rise until it reached a height of 1680 meters 9.6 kilometers northwest of Westchester. Keeping this altitude, the plane headed through New York directly to Martas Vinyard . The coastline aboard N9253N crossed the north of Bridgeport and now followed parallel to the shore already above the water, maintaining a height of 1680 meters and a course of 100 °, while passing Cape Judith ( Rhode Island ) ^[2] .

It was already night in the region (civil twilight ended at 20:47, navigation at 21:28), and in the western part of the sky was a crescent moon, which gave approximately 19% of the light. At 34 miles west of the destination airport, the Kennedy aircraft began to decline at an airspeed of 307 km / h and a vertical speed of 122-224 m / min, and at 21:38 it also began to make a right turn to the south. At an altitude of 670 meters, the plane suddenly stopped descending and began to rise. Climbing lasted 30 seconds, during which the turn was stopped, and the speed decreased to 283 km / h. At 9:39 p.m., the plane occupied a height of 760 meters, keeping which it flew in a southeast direction for 50 seconds, after which it moved to the left turn with a climb and climbed to 790 meters. Then, while maintaining the left turn, the plane went into decline at a vertical speed of 274 m / min, until the course reached the eastern direction, after which the turn was stopped, although the decline did not slow down. Then at 21:40:15 the plane went into a sharp right turn, while losing altitude faster. At 21:40:34 the N9253N board was already descending at a vertical speed of 1432 m / min or 24 m / s, when it disappeared from radar screens at an altitude of 335 meters ^[2] . At about 21:41 at high speed, the N9253N crashed into the water at a point with coordinates and completely collapsed. All three people on board (John Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessett-Kennedy and Lauren Bessett) died ^[2] .

When the plane of John F. Kennedy Jr. did not arrive on Martas Vinyard, his searches were immediately launched, led by Rear Admiral Richard M. Larrabee ^[3] . After 4 days, on July 20 at 10:40 p.m., search services discovered the wreckage of the aircraft a quarter of a mile from its last radar contact.

The commission for the investigation of the causes of the disaster was headed by former military pilot James Hall ( born Robert Hall (according to other sources - Robert Pearce )) ^{[4] [5]} .

During the investigation, it was found that at 18:30 before the flight, John Kennedy Jr. received a weather forecast from Teterboro via the Internet , according to which visibility was expected on the route in the region of 10-13 kilometers. But according to the testimony of the pilots who were near the flight route of the N9253N, there was a haze above the water, which significantly reduced visibility. So, one of the pilots who flew this region at 19:30, that is, before sunset, said that when flying over land he clearly saw landmarks, but when he was above the water, he could not even distinguish the horizon. Another pilot, who was in the area of ​​the incident, said that while he was at FL140 (4250 meters), visibility was unlimited. But in the process of descent, the plane ended up in the clouds, after which the Martas-Vinyarda lights disappeared, because of which the pilot even decided that an electrical accident had occurred on the island. Having contacted the airport, he found out that he was less than 8.04 kilometers from it, but could no longer see the airport. In this case, the clouds were not illuminated by the lights of the aircraft, and therefore were invisible ^{[2] [6]} .

NTSB Report

On July 6, 2000, the National Transportation Safety Council (NTSB) published the final report of the investigation into the causes of the crash of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane.

According to the report, the cause of the disaster was the banal disorientation of the pilot. When John Kennedy Jr. began to make a turn before approaching, during this turn, due to the high duration under the influence of centrifugal force , a temporary disturbance of the vestibular apparatus occurred, which was facilitated by the flight conditions in almost complete darkness above water and through clouds, due to which the pilot did not see any external landmarks. As a result, the pilot lost his sense of orientation in space and did not understand where the sky is and where is the water, therefore he mistakenly first transferred the plane to climb, and then to decrease, while first creating a left roll, and then an increasing right, until the right roll soon did not exceed 45 °. The plane went into a sharp corkscrew , and the disoriented pilot did not manage to understand the instrument readings and get it out of this state, therefore at 21:41 the plane crashed into the ocean at high speed ^{[2] [7]} .

The death of John Kennedy Jr. caused a wide resonance in society, which was comparable to the resonance caused by the death of Princess Diana in 1997. Throughout the country, mourning began without any announcement. On July 19, even before the wreckage was discovered, US President Bill Clinton delivered a speech in honor of Kennedy. The US Senate meeting also began with prayer for the dead. The heads of other states also sent their condolences, and Pope John Paul II declared that he would pray for the Kennedy family.

At the same time, information leaked to the press that the dead pilot had a raid of only 46 hours, and on the day of the crash his leg was in plaster, which is why Carolyn Bessett-Kennedy even tried to dissuade her husband from flying, but he insisted. However, parents Carolyn and Lauren Bessett said they did not blame the son-in-law for what happened.

• There is a hint of disaster in the series Family Guides in the episode Brian the Bachelor (Episode 7, Season 4).
• The accident of the plane of John F. Kennedy Jr. is shown in the Canadian television series The Last 24 Hours .
• Canadian documentary television series Crash Investigation (Season 14, Death of John F. Kennedy Jr. ). Roles performed in it:
  • Harmon Walsh - John Kennedy Jr.
  • Lindsey Frazier - Carolyn Bessett-Kennedy
  • Carolina Bartczak - Lauren Bessett ^[8]
• The catastrophe is also mentioned in the book of I. A. Muromov, “100 Great Plane Crashes,” in the chapter The Death of J. Kennedy Jr. on the Saratoga .

• The assassination of John Kennedy - the death of the pilot's father

Comments

Sources

• Description of the disaster on the Aviation Safety Network