0:02 on a warm summer evening John F Kennedy
0:04 Jr took off for what should have been a
0:06 routine flight to Martha's Vineyard JN
0:09 had flown this Route 35 times before but
0:10 unfortunately this time would be
0:12 different and he crashed when he was
0:13 only a few minutes away from his
0:16 destination tragically killing everyone
0:18 on board the plane the reason why he
0:19 crashed has been the source of endless
0:21 speculation over the years that's why
0:23 I'm going to share with you the untold
0:25 story of JFK Jr's fatal plane crash and
0:27 the shocking sequence of events that led
0:30 to this tragedy I'm Hoover and welcome
0:35 debrief Our Story begins on the evening
0:39 of July 16th 1999 when John F Kennedy Jr
0:41 was planning to fly his wife Carolyn and
0:43 her sister Lauren from the Essex County
0:45 airport in New Jersey to Martha's
0:47 Vineyard they were going to drop off
0:49 Lauren before continuing the flight to
0:51 hyport to attend a family wedding the
0:53 following day Unfortunately they had no
0:55 idea of the danger ahead as John began
0:57 his descent towards Martha's Vineyard
0:59 something went terribly wrong the
1:00 aircraft turned turned right and began
1:03 descending then veered left and climbed
1:05 Jon never made any Radio Calls for help
1:07 and moments later their aircraft
1:09 spiraled out of control into the ocean
1:12 below Carolyn betet Kennedy was only 33
1:14 years old when she died in the crash she
1:16 was a publicist for Calvin Klein and her
1:18 relationship with Jan quickly became the
1:21 target of the paparazzi and the media
1:23 which put a strain on their marriage
1:25 Lauren betet was only 34 years old and
1:27 is often the Forgotten victim in this
1:29 tragedy which is why I'll explain her
1:30 significance later later in the video
1:33 John F Kennedy Jr was only 38 years old
1:35 when he died and he was the pilot flying
1:37 the plane he was the only son of
1:39 President John F Kennedy born just weeks
1:41 after his father was elected president
1:43 he earned a law degree from New York
1:45 University and was well known for his
1:47 Charming Charisma he was also the
1:49 founder and editor-in chief of George a
1:51 political lifestyle magazine one of the
1:53 things investigators first looked at was
1:55 John's experience in training as a pilot
1:57 we know that he started receiving flight
2:00 instruction in October of 1982 and over
2:01 the next 6 years he flew with six
2:03 different instructors and logged 47
2:05 hours of flight time but only one hour
2:08 of that was flying solo now critics have
2:10 argued that this was a sign he wasn't a
2:12 good pilot but keep in mind that John
2:13 was only 21 years old when he started
2:15 flying and my guess is that between
2:17 going to college and growing up as a
2:19 Kennedy he probably didn't have the time
2:21 or perhaps the maturity to commit to
2:23 training consistently that's probably
2:25 why he stopped flying in 1988 and he
2:28 wouldn't start again until 9 years later
2:31 in December of 1997 he attended training
2:32 at flight safety International down in
2:35 Florida and over the course of a 4-month
2:37 period he logged 53 hours of flight time
2:40 including 10hour solo earning his
2:42 private pilot license in April of
2:44 1998 the instructors that he flew with
2:46 didn't have anything negative to say
2:48 about him or how he handled training
2:50 after getting his license JN spent a lot
2:52 of time flying a Cessna 182 and
2:54 continued receiving instruction from a
2:56 local flight school and various
2:58 instructors over the course of the rest
3:02 of 1998 John logged about 179 hours of
3:04 flight time including 65 hours with an
3:07 instructor in March of 1999 John pass
3:10 the faa's written instrument exam and
3:11 then he returned to flight safety
3:13 International to begin more training to
3:15 earn his instrument rating John's
3:17 primary instructor during his instrument
3:18 training said that his progression was
3:20 normal and he had all the basic skills
3:22 needed to complete the course John
3:24 completed about half of the lessons
3:25 before he left the flight school on
3:29 April 24th 1999 about 3 months prior to
3:30 the crash
3:32 during that training John logged over 13
3:34 hours of flight time with an instructor
3:37 and almost 17 hours of simulator time
3:38 now I think he made the decision to
3:40 leave the school because he knew he
3:42 could continue his training using local
3:44 instructors back home and he just didn't
3:45 have the time to hang out down in
3:47 Florida and finish the program he had to
3:49 get back home to run his magazine and
3:51 take care of his marriage and everything
3:52 else going on in his life one of the
3:54 biggest changes that happened when John
3:56 got home that we need to talk about is
3:58 the fact that he purchased a new
4:00 airplane before we talk about the new
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5:28 free the aircraft that John was flying
5:32 when he crashed was at 1995 Piper pa32
5:34 Saratoga 2 this is a single engine
5:36 low-wing aircraft often used for
5:38 business trips and John purchased it on
5:42 April 28th 1999 Just 4 days after
5:44 leaving the instrument flight school
5:45 which is about 2 and a half months prior
5:47 to the crash one of the features
5:49 included on the aircraft was an
5:50 autopilot that could hold altitude and
5:52 heading however some Pilots reported
5:54 that the system required active
5:56 management and could become challenging
5:58 during high workload situations
6:00 according to the investigation John flew
6:01 to Saratoga with at least three
6:03 different flight instructors one
6:05 instructor flew three flights with him
6:07 including a flight to Martha's Vineyard
6:09 with IMC conditions for the approach
6:11 that instructor said Jon's skills and
6:13 ability to handle multiple tasks while
6:15 flying were average for his level of
6:18 experience a second instructor flew with
6:20 John to Martha's Vineyard on July 1st
6:22 just two weeks prior to the crash that
6:24 flight was conducted at night and also
6:27 in IMC conditions during the flight Jon
6:29 reportedly had no issues using the
6:31 autopilot the third instructor made six
6:33 or seven flights with JN to Martha's
6:35 Vineyard and said that most of those
6:37 flights were conducted at night he also
6:39 said that Jon had no trouble flying the
6:41 plane and he was very cautious about his
6:44 Aviation decision making however that
6:46 instructor also told investigators that
6:48 on one or two occasions the airplane's
6:50 autopilot would turn to a heading other
6:52 than the one selected which required the
6:54 autopilot to be disengaged and then
6:56 re-engaged he didn't think the problem
6:58 was significant and it's worth pointing
7:00 out that he also didn't have anything
7:02 bad to say about J's ability to use the
7:04 autopilot eventually the investigation
7:06 determined that in the 15 months before
7:09 the crash Jon had flown about 35 flights
7:12 to or from the Martha Vineyard area and
7:13 about half of those flights were without
7:16 an instructor including at least 5 at
7:18 night additionally John had logged about
7:22 310 hours of Total flight time with 55
7:24 of those hours being at night and about
7:26 72 hours as pilot command without an
7:29 instructor on board John also had about
7:31 30 36 hours in the Piper Saratoga of
7:34 which 9.4 hours were at night and 3
7:37 hours were without a flight instructor
7:39 however of the 3 hours without a flight
7:42 instructor in the Piper Saratoga only
7:45 0.8 were flown at night the bottom line
7:47 is even though Jon was very familiar
7:48 with the route to Martha's Vineyard he
7:50 had very little experience in the Piper
7:52 Saratoga and even less flying that
7:55 aircraft by himself at night and now
7:56 that you understand a little bit more
7:58 about Jon's background we need to talk
8:02 about some of the contri factors to the
8:04 crash there were at least four big
8:05 issues that I think played a role in
8:07 this crash and when you look at each of
8:09 them individually they might not seem
8:11 like a big deal but each one of them
8:13 represents a slice of Swiss cheese in
8:15 the risk model and when all of the holes
8:16 line up with what else happened on the
8:19 flight it creates a scenario that almost
8:21 guarantees a tragedy the first factor is
8:23 that Jon fractured his left ankle during
8:25 a paragliding accident on Memorial Day
8:28 weekend and his cast was removed the day
8:30 before the plane crash the reason this
8:32 is important is because Witnesses said
8:33 he was using crutches while he was
8:36 loading luggage onto the plane although
8:38 it was up to John to determine if he was
8:40 fit to fly the pain from that injury
8:42 could have been a big distraction the
8:43 second factor that could have played a
8:46 role in this tragedy was stress John and
8:47 Carolyn were going through marriage
8:49 counseling and Carolyn didn't want to go
8:51 on the trip they argued about it but
8:53 eventually she decided to go so that way
8:55 they could avoid media scrutiny on top
8:58 of that John's magazine George was
8:59 struggling financially report reportedly
9:02 losing about $4 million a year that's
9:03 why I'm sure the pressure he was under
9:05 could have easily preoccupied his
9:07 thoughts during the flight the third
9:09 factor is that Jon attended a Yankees
9:11 game the night before the flight and he
9:13 hung out with his friends after the game
9:15 allegedly he didn't get back to his
9:17 hotel until around 2 a.m. and he
9:19 probably only had about 5 hours of sleep
9:21 and had been awake for over 12 hours
9:23 when he started the flight the problem
9:25 with this is that flying fatigue can
9:27 easily lead to poor decision-making and
9:29 loss of situational awareness the fourth
9:31 contributing factor to this tragedy that
9:33 we need to talk about was the timing for
9:35 when they took off the flight was
9:37 originally scheduled to depart Essex
9:39 County between 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. and
9:42 sunset was at 8:22 because the flight
9:44 time was only about an hour and 15
9:47 minutes that meant the original plan had
9:48 them landing at Martha's Vineyard about
9:52 30 to 45 minutes prior to Sunset
9:54 unfortunately John ended up working late
9:55 and then he had to go pick up Lauren and
9:58 they got to the airport around 8:00 p.m.
10:00 Carolyn was also delayed due to traffic
10:02 and didn't arrive until 20 minutes later
10:04 which was right at Sunset that meant
10:06 instead of flying during the day they'd
10:08 be flying during the darkness of the
10:10 night and although Jon was legal to fly
10:12 VFR at night this can be very
10:13 challenging for someone that doesn't
10:15 have a lot of experience and you're
10:16 about to find out why this is so
10:18 dangerous but first there's one more
10:20 contributing factor that we haven't
10:23 talked about yet and that's the
10:25 weather John got a weather briefing
10:27 about 2 hours prior to takeoff at which
10:30 time Essex County hadle clear skies with
10:32 four mil visibility due to Haze Martha's
10:35 Vineyard also had clear skies with 6 mil
10:38 visibility due to Haze and hyan Port had
10:40 few clouds at 7,000 ft with 6 mil
10:43 visibility due to Haze unfortunately
10:45 this was based on observations made at 6
10:47 p.m. and John didn't take off until 2
10:49 and 1/2 hours later and the visibility
10:51 was gradually getting worse because of
10:53 the haze one of the pilots that landed
10:55 at Essex County just before John took
10:57 off wanted to warn him that the
10:59 visibility was worse than forecast
11:01 but he was unable to find him and never
11:03 got the chance however the truth is that
11:05 even if J had gotten the updated weather
11:08 just before takeoff it was still VFR
11:10 conditions and that meant he was legal
11:12 to conduct the flight that being said
11:14 just because something is legal doesn't
11:16 always mean it's a good idea you need to
11:18 understand that night flying is very
11:20 different from day flying and it Demands
11:22 a lot more attention of the pilot the
11:23 biggest difference is that it's harder
11:26 to see outside visual references and you
11:27 have to rely on your flight instruments
11:29 a lot more to control the aircraft to
11:31 make matters worse on the night of J's
11:34 flight the moon was just a sliver in the
11:36 sky and provided almost no illumination
11:38 this is a very dangerous situation
11:40 especially when flying over large bodies
11:43 of Open Water because sometimes those
11:45 lights on the water can look like stars
11:47 and it's very easy to lose sight of the
11:48 Horizon because it can blend in with the
11:50 water especially in a very hazy
11:52 environment unfortunately if Jon had
11:54 taken off when he originally planned
11:56 around 6:00 p.m. the flight would have
11:58 been during the daytime and this tragedy
12:00 most likely would have been aoid avoided
12:02 instead John was probably feeling the
12:03 pressure to make the flight happen and
12:05 all the holes in the Swiss cheese were
12:12 p.m. as Jon took off into the night sky
12:14 the controller instructed him to make a
12:16 right downwind departure John
12:17 acknowledged the controller and that
12:19 would be the last radio call he would
12:21 ever make he departed to the Northeast
12:24 initially staying below 2,000 ft before
12:26 climbing up to 5,500 ft for the cruise
12:28 portion of the flight JN was probably
12:29 comfortable for most of the flight
12:31 because his Cruise altitude most likely
12:34 kept him above some of the haze allowing
12:36 for greater visibility now this could
12:37 have given him a false sense of
12:39 confidence that the visibility would be
12:41 good at a lower altitude even though
12:43 he'd be in the middle of the haze as Jon
12:44 headed out over the water I'm sure he
12:46 could see the haze below him obscuring
12:48 some of the lights and that's why the
12:49 safer option would have been to point
12:51 back towards land and that way he could
12:53 fly directly over the coastline until he
12:56 got a lot closer to Martha's Vineyard
12:58 instead JN continued to head on a direct
13:00 path towards the island and when he was
13:02 about 34 miles from the airport he began
13:05 his initial descent during The Descent
13:07 John began a right turn to the South and
13:09 then about 30 seconds later he stopped
13:12 The Descent at 2200 ft and began a climb
13:14 back up to 2500 ft continuing to the
13:17 southeast away from Martha's Vineyard
13:18 unfortunately that turn put the
13:21 shoreline directly behind him and left
13:23 him staring at a dark and empty ocean
13:24 additionally because the haze had
13:26 reduced the visibility to only about 2
13:28 miles where he was at he most likely
13:30 could couldn't see the horizon or any
13:32 semblance of land to know which way was
13:35 up or down about 50 seconds later John
13:37 began a left turn and climbed up to 2600
13:40 ft before beginning a decent at a rate
13:42 of 900 ft per minute a few seconds later
13:44 he reversed the turn back to the right
13:47 and the bank increased to over
13:49 45° as he continued to descend the air
13:52 speed increased to over 180 knots and
13:53 eventually The Descent rate exceeded
13:56 4,700 ft per minute as the aircraft
13:58 spiraled down into the ocean killing
14:00 everyone on board instantly now that you
14:02 know how they crashed we need to talk
14:04 about why and the two most shocking
14:10 story there has been a lot of debate and
14:11 speculation about what happened in the
14:14 final moments of Jon's flight some
14:15 critics have argued that the aircraft
14:18 got too slow and it entered a right Spin
14:20 and Jon was unable to recover because of
14:22 that injury to his left ankle preventing
14:24 him from being able to apply full left
14:26 Rudder opposite the direction of the
14:28 spin however the NTSB rolled out the
14:30 scenario because the data they had
14:31 showed that what happened was a
14:34 graveyard spiral this is when a pilot is
14:35 disoriented and thinks their flying
14:37 wings level when the reality is they're
14:40 in a descending turn the pilot will
14:42 often notice the altitude decreasing as
14:44 the air speed increases and they pull
14:46 back on the controls to begin a climb
14:48 and slow down but because they're in a
14:51 turn all this does is tighten the turn
14:52 increasing the air speed and the rate of
14:55 Dent until they hit the ground
14:57 regardless of the reason why John became
14:59 disoriented the weather conditions that
15:01 night made it extremely challenging if
15:03 not impossible for a VFR only pilot to
15:06 fly over the water and John didn't have
15:08 enough instrument training or experience
15:10 in the Saratoga to handle the situation
15:11 although Jon could have used the
15:13 autopilot to help him recover and
15:15 maintain level flight the NTSB
15:17 determined that the autopilot wasn't in
15:19 use at the time of the crash the
15:20 shocking truth though is that if they
15:22 weren't dropping off Lauren at Martha's
15:24 Vineyard then the flight to hyport would
15:27 have been almost entirely Overland and
15:28 John probably could have maintained
15:30 vision ual reference to the Horizon
15:32 because of all the cultural lighting
15:34 additionally one of John's instructors
15:36 had talked to him earlier on the day of
15:38 the crash and offered to fly the trip
15:40 with him but Jon replied saying that he
15:42 wanted to do it alone we'll never know
15:44 why JN rejected that offer but the
15:46 bottom line is that Jon was a pilot in
15:49 command and that means he was the one
15:51 responsible for the safety of the flight
15:53 even though his disorientation is what
15:55 caused him to crash he never should have
15:57 taken off to begin with I appreciate you
15:59 watching this video and I hope you were
16:00 able to learn something from this
16:02 debrief if you did and you want to
16:04 support the channel be sure to watch one
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