25 years ago: the plane crash that killed JFK Jr.

25 years ago, JFK Jr tragically died in a plane crash. We look at the events and buildup behind yet another sad chapter in the life of the Kennedys.

John F. Kennedy Jr. died on July 16, 1999, in a plane crash about 7 miles outside of Martha’s Vinyard. He was just 38 years old. 

JFK Jr himself was flying the plane. He was an avid pilot, although there is some suggestion in several media that he was not qualified to fly this type of plane. 

John had earned his pilot's license in 1998 and he and his wife Carolyn, whom he married in secret in 1996, used to enjoy flying together. "The only person I’ve been able to get up to go with me, who looks forward to it as much as I do, is my wife," he commented to USA Today.

The son of the assassinated president traveled with his wife Carolyn, who was only 33, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, who was 34 years old. 

According to Today, the couple were going through tricky times and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy felt neglected by her husband. One thing was for sure, she did not want to go to the wedding of his cousin - Rory Kennedy in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, on July 17.

On the night of the incident, Bessette-Kennedy and her sister boarded JFK Jr.'s single-engine Piper Saratoga plane at Essex County Airport in New Jersey. They took off at 8:38 p.m. Tragically, the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean about an hour later, though the exact timeline was not immediately known. The loss of the plane wasn't registered until it didn't show up at its destination.

An account in People magazine, taken from 'JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography', says that the pilot lost control of the plane. It then spiraled downwards into the sea.

On July 21, Navy divers recovered the bodies of JFK Jr., Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and Lauren Bessette from the shattered fuselage. Autopsies conducted that evening revealed that all three had died on impact.

JFK Jr was the son of the 35th U.S. president. He was a publisher, lawyer, and member of the prominent Kennedy political family. He was only three years old when his father was shot and killed in Dallas.

Two brothers in the elite of American politics, JFK and Robert Kennedy, were both assassinated. The son of Robert, David, died on April 25, 1984, of a drug overdose. He was 28 years old. His brother Michael died in a tragic skiing accident, and Bobby’s granddaughter also died at only 22 years old.

His uncle, the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, spoke at his funeral: "We dared to think ... that this John Kennedy would live to comb gray hair, with his beloved Carolyn by his side. But like his father, he had every gift but length of years."

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