In 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jrs. took off from New York in a single-engined light plane with his wife and sister-in-law for Martha's Vineyard. The plane disappeared over the ocean. It caused a media sensation because John F. Kennedy was one of the most popular presidents, at home and abroad, in modern times and he'd been assassinated. A few years later his brother, Robert, then running for president, was also assassinated. There was little political about this incident though. John Jr. was not running for political office. He was the founder and editor of a magazine that was in financial trouble and was in the midst of a rocky marriage. Like his mother, Jackie, he was attractive and a target for paparazzi. On this occasion, he was late for a wedding and left in haste on a flight he was not qualified to make.
There's no point in going into technical details. The wreckage was retriever by Navy divers and was thoroughly examined. It was determined that there was nothing wrong with the Saratoga he'd been flying, yet it had hit the water with its right wing tip and landed upside down.
It didn't take long to conclude that John Jr., should not have tried to make the flight. For one thing he was harassed by circumstances. For another he was late and in a hurry. He had had 300 hours of flying time but only about 70 of them solo, and he'd had eleven different instructors. He was qualified only for visual flight rules -- meaning that you have to see where you're going in daytime and clear weather -- but, having left late, he found himself disoriented and flying in darkness. Further, he had tuned his radio to the wrong weather frequency and was not receiving updates so he'd been unaware of the mist closing in on his flight path.
The hypothesis was that he'd become disoriented, perhaps while trying to find the correct weather frequency. If a pilot is distracted for a few moments the airplane is likely to beginning to bank and lose altitude. The attitude indicator on the instrument panel would have told Kennedy this, but inexperienced pilots who can't see anything are liable to trust their sensations rather than respond to their instruments. It's very easy to lose altitude in complete darkness, even during a slight bank. The slight alteration in G forces tells you you're sitting up straight and flying level. But without additional training, Kennedy lost control and the crash was lethal for the three people aboard.
There's no point in going into technical details. The wreckage was retriever by Navy divers and was thoroughly examined. It was determined that there was nothing wrong with the Saratoga he'd been flying, yet it had hit the water with its right wing tip and landed upside down.
It didn't take long to conclude that John Jr., should not have tried to make the flight. For one thing he was harassed by circumstances. For another he was late and in a hurry. He had had 300 hours of flying time but only about 70 of them solo, and he'd had eleven different instructors. He was qualified only for visual flight rules -- meaning that you have to see where you're going in daytime and clear weather -- but, having left late, he found himself disoriented and flying in darkness. Further, he had tuned his radio to the wrong weather frequency and was not receiving updates so he'd been unaware of the mist closing in on his flight path.
The hypothesis was that he'd become disoriented, perhaps while trying to find the correct weather frequency. If a pilot is distracted for a few moments the airplane is likely to beginning to bank and lose altitude. The attitude indicator on the instrument panel would have told Kennedy this, but inexperienced pilots who can't see anything are liable to trust their sensations rather than respond to their instruments. It's very easy to lose altitude in complete darkness, even during a slight bank. The slight alteration in G forces tells you you're sitting up straight and flying level. But without additional training, Kennedy lost control and the crash was lethal for the three people aboard.
