On July 16, 1999, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. took off from Essex County Airport in Caldwell, New Jersey, at 8:39 p.m. At 9:41 p.m., he crashed his Piper Saratoga into the Atlantic Ocean seven and one-half miles short of his goal, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, killing himself; his wife, Carolyn; and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette. Why did this happen and what can we learn from this high-profile crash that will make us all better, safer pilots?
1. Get-there-itis. Pilots talk about this common syndrome and some even joke about it. We think it will never happen to us, but it does. We could never be that headstrong, we reason, but we all have felt the urge to get there or, maybe even worse, to get home. Such was the case with Kennedy. He probably believed he had to get there at all costs, because he was flying to his cousin’s wedding and he had promised his sister, Caroline, who was vacationing in Idaho with her family, that he would represent their branch of the Kennedy family at the ceremony in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Kennedy had also promised his wife Carolyn’s sister, Lauren, that he would drop her off in Martha’s Vineyard on the way—adding one more promise he didn’t want to break, and considerably complicating his flight plan since he would have to fly over open water. Kennedy probably felt responsible for getting there and did not want to disappoint anyone by delaying the flight and missing the wedding.
