John F. Kennedy Jr. Flight - July 16, 1999

[Music] [Applause] hello today we're gonna recreate a flight that took place on July 16 1999 involving John F Kennedy jr. departing Caldwell Airport in Essex County New Jersey and route to Martha's Vineyard I did research on the flight although we're not flying the flight today in the same Piper Saratoga airplane we are going to use the same navigation radios fly the same route at the same time of day and time of year and replicated weather conditions that John F Kennedy jr. experienced on that day this flight is not in any way intended to criticize anything he may are made out of done on his flight which did end airplane crash in the water off the coast of Martha's Vineyard we are not going to be using autopilot today I would point out that the Piper Saratoga that John F Kennedy jr. flew on that day was capable of two-axis autopilot and altitude hold apparently he did not avail himself of the autopilot on that day the airplane was also equipped with GPS we will be using the GPS only insofar as the departure and destination airports I do have several vor student which would have been used by John F Kennedy jr. on the flight that day we're gonna go ahead and bring skyvector up and show you the flight path and the vor s so here's the departure Airport at Essex County Airport and then flying north east first vor Waypoint is going to be at Bridge Point Bridgeport the next fuel our Waypoint at Madison that's Mike Alpha Delta then we have you London Connecticut or grunt which is Gulf Oscar November and finally the vor that markers vineyard which is right here Martha's video and feet wide now on the flight that night the weather conditions were VFR although there was a lot of haze due to smog in the New York area as it turns out John F Kennedy jr. only his only communications with air traffic control was ground control and power then he departed and flew underneath the class problem airspace of Newark John F Kennedy and LaGuardia Airport says the big year so he would have had to stay below 3000 right here and fly underneath the bravo airspace and then he climbed to a cruise out the do to 5500 which is an appropriate VFR producing altitude for an eastbound flight they maintain 5,500 feet I told very shortly before Martha's maiden where he began a descent and apparently lost control of air due to spatial disorientation as a result of losing his reference to the horizon due to the fact that it was at night so and also at night over the ocean as often is the case the ocean itself merges with the sky you don't have any reference to the horizon it's as if you're in IMC conditions so we're gonna replicate those conditions all the way into Lawrence's behave the only different series we're going to try to make a safe approach and landing and as was intended on that day July 16 1999 by John F Kennedy jr. okay so let's go ahead and hop inside an airplane and we'll show you what frequency we have tuned up here this is the time of day that he departed as you can see it's getting dark and we've got the ground control frequency right here 121.9 and we have power in standby we are going to depart from from way to - which is based on the wind conditions from the southwest on the day in question so here's the runway - t here's our position okay I'm gonna listen to a sauce and get our taxi clearance Essex County information Mike zero hundred Zulu weather when to 0-0 at 7:00 visibility 10 sky clear temperature 3 12.7 altimeter to nine nine zero arriving runway two to departing runway two to advise on initial contact you have Mike okay pretty down frequency one part in the correction that ground frequency 121.9 we're gonna go ahead get her clearance let's bring up the map just to show you where we are on the airport so there we are at air bound aviation FBO look at a taxi over to runway Coldwell crowned Saratoga 9 or 2 5 3 November at around aviation taxi with Mike for be apart apart sure to the Northeast Saratoga Niner 2 5 3 November cobalt our taxi runway 2 to via taxiway tango Papa cross runway 2 8 taxi via taxi runway 2 to via tango papa cross from week 2 8 Saratoga diner to 5 3 November Oh papa now this Airport in Essex County is very busy and it's also located underneath the bravo airspace for Newark LaGuardia gonna pick Airport so here we have our clearance to cross our way to eight and threshold around way to two short right here do some last minute checks fuel pump on for takeoff app lights rotating beacon stroke on all right and twitching the tower cobalt error Saratoga night or 2 5 3 November holding short runway 2 to Dorothy's departure sorry target 9 or 2 5 3 November Caldwell tower wins 2 to 0 at 7 clear for takeoff runway two to clear for takeoff runway two two stars orbit 9 or 2 5 3 November [Music] okay beat off the brakes full power running the green car smell life our Internet this is a typical summer day in you are area of a hazy air temperature was 88 degrees on that day there was a lot of smog in here a lot of pollutants in the air so there was a lot of ease there were four conditions in me difficult visibility particularly when it became dark initial head Connecticut coast between Long Island initially better climb out to 2500 standard meter bravo airspace so right now we have a visual reference to the horizon that to curate as it becomes darker particularly one we get over ocean and all this present heading toward clear of the bravo airspace like here and we're set to the posting there we are 2500 and last problem shelf the bottom of which is 3,000 looking up to the right Teterboro Airport John F Kennedy Airport bloody and their ports as I said a super busy airspace and on that day John F Kennedy jr. only communicated for his ground takeoff their traffic control don't lie plan was violent on that it's not required nor was he required to be Parcher and we're still looking for the vor number one to come upon [Music] [Music] [Music] we're talking about to return the rubber shell the cruise altitude [Music] he's bound point [Music] [Music] Telus characters our speed of 200 put within 300 horsepower engine or some quite a bit more powerful and bastard every charity we're playing here legacy as you as you look out at this case you clearly now have a reference to the horizon but you can imagine what it's dark over water there's no lights as you can see here orient yourself you can see how yours might as well be a client that's what he experienced on that day and I said this is not intended to be a criticism it was flying under visual flight rules VFR conditions but he apparently didn't anticipate the fact that he would lose his reference to the horizon during the flight now he was the ascertainment was equipped with a two-axis autopilot GPS use the autopilot during the flight not sure why that is but it was equipped with yes GPS that we've got programming here is simply the destination departure airports and nothing more than that so here's our first radio live we don't listen to should be receiving it so there's the radial to that in which is going to stay on that radio zero nine zero hold this heading right here different radial to Bridgewater which is essentially what Jeff can get was using his vor navigation during this flights we're going to the same thing I'm still got a ways to go before we get out of the bravo airspace we're going to maintain 2,500 on our present heading and the reason he intended to get off the ground much sooner there was a two-hour delay his wife was calling traffic was shopping in traffic which delayed his departure by a couple hours so the apartment time was actually being dirty atm on July 16 1919 so this flight will be taken us between Long Island which will be to the right at we'll have reference lights both on the Connecticut and Long Island sides and Jonathan you had about 46 hours in Saratoga when he took off this day with two passengers on board his wife his wife sister right it's going to be brother space for the part which is one five hundred our 1800 then he goes to 1500 over 7000 going to be stink to the left remaining underneath our cart shelf which is a three thousand seven thousand and this again closely approximates what you did that day as he wasn't talking working brother spacing requirements every 120 miles per hour in our turkey most likely look quite a bit faster these airports are accumulated to be both Essex and Martha's figured I've never baloney to her out of either of them his casein clone many many times out of the Essex County Airport and had no need to Marcus began several times as well if Prem had very limited time flying experience which was certainly a factor a couple of things I have to ask myself as I had autopilot or in this play does what I'm really done because of trying to replicate it is a head scratcher though under equipment with autopilot including out the tooth hole it didn't have a hell that you very select was able to hold whatever helter to do with why yet and it would certainly hole pitch it home it was a two-axis autopilot but he chose not to whatever reason to use that flight director offered that was flying with him knowing that yet love it at night experience and also the fact that Martha's Vineyard often has limited visibility as its toward the evening hours new points pretty decreases and sometimes fog forms around the island but gently chose to fly without his instructor important I was still under the Bravo shelf coming up on Westchester County Airport which should be visit a lot from the lottery Westchester County whadya right there off the right-wing and tear mower or behind that now here we're going to deliberately make a right turn because and as I said Jeff jr. did not make communication with air traffic control during his flight Westchester County Airport is class Delta that would have required every question requesting in transition into their airspace their airspace in West Chester's ground to 3,000 so we're gonna fly around the Westchester there's a base right to the Long Island Sound which you can see right here ahead of us and they'll get it would follow that coastline and we're going to use our vor see not necessarily flying direct rate Hillsboro can use it as a reference for situational awareness so get we're skirting the clutch Delta hair space to our left we're still in a glass brown bookshelf which goes from 3,000 to 7,000 so we're not and controlled airspace right now that would require the sound and eleven turn out and right about the time getting Sanford so you can see on our GPS we have a departure Airport into another double whiskey and yellow might be destination Airport which is remarkably Westchester Airport - just about where they're spaced what were you thinking you are number one here we should be what Union what every meal to the station to the left right throughout the north edge of Long Island Sound and he would have had plenty of reference to light get into trouble until he until he got out over the open expanse of the Atlantic without any reference to any kind of place and we're still polluted on under the bravo airspace inexpensive bravo airspace in metropolitan area so far the ball control their space that required communication with the agency that we blowing in so far was that Essex County for departure purposes right now apply the zero seven five radioactive record the problem rates are going to be 5,500 our present pending as we navigate on that granule and they're conditioned to see the break board Airport gonna fly above that airspace which goes from ground in 2005 not requiring anything down or about 10 miles now from their fertility or an airport and we're going to fly right over that Delta airspace lots planning options airports and we're gonna be passing around within by distance that is the identifier for the call Oscar no pepper that's to ignore Hamilton radio pretty important pretty important for you are I'm gonna start navigating to the Madison B or the correction that would problem that you should look at over here where there's no lights it's very difficult to determine where the horizon begins and where the sky begins and ends the water kind of merges with it I've been giving up one black mass that it wasn't movement that I didn't clue interpreting all sorts of difficulties the visibility issues was the haze in here about exactly a woman replica bridgeport vor right now we're going to switch over once I'm gonna switch over to the market the dorm setting to the west over there our present heading Ichiro dice roll roughly along two-seven-zero and right here in an airport tell them that filter runs from sea level in 2005 lots of options he was unhappy with what he received weather-wise or was uncomfortable to continue the flight certainly could have availed himself of multiple options our prey about 20 miles from you are navigating the 272 rig on hitting 0 9 0 so it lights the crate that's Long Island and North Shore and South Shore here of Connecticut on Allen looking out over the water when there's no reference to lights becomes really difficult to make out where that horizon isn't not impossible so you can have them in revised solbin on your instruments or spatial orientation about 40 miles right now into the grunty you are and speed over bread right now is veteran the only way they were able to determine his flight path was through primary radar returns which ended just off the coast of Martha's Vineyard where they lost radar contact and what the radar return showed was or rather descent what a pilot becomes disoriented that situation oftentimes when they see that they're losing altitude reaction is to pull that another control wheel ding Connecticut that that's going to decrease the rate of descent put the back into a climb and promise that replace it and turn in a sneaker in Charlie or accelerator order the reason I'm doing this flight is because I got myself into very similar trouble could very easily have ended up with your chocolate and entering the same way how did not deep breath started to focus on my intervention said about my own sense of what I thought was street level play and I think I probably would have ended up in the same situation as him we're not firm all the training I had done and the flight simulator prior to that incident that I experienced I probably had spent about a hundred hours of flying but soul solely would reference the intervention in place in the winter 2004 saw flight simulator 2000 that's what that's what say my life in this situation I was that I relied only on private pilot training the very limited German representing you as part of the private pilot training I would like sewing on that very likely winner what I got into Lansing right so we still see we have reference to the South Shore and lights there onto a rake his West Hampton yellow fogs posture thirty or so miles now warm what will happen here most likely is we're going to leave the land and he over the Atlantic somewhere near here just open water and I haven't really all and there's something anyway that I could determine where the horizon is power trying to fly by visual flight rules I think it's gonna be pretty close to impossible to do that given ease these lighting they're just switched the intellect receiving them and that's the markers me yes four to sixteen so I hear to another thirty or forty miles or sociability and government is frequency automated wasn't there that partnership in here what has been here is it's in that maintained class Delta tower an airport the tower closes I think a closed at 10:00 p.m. so he was anxious to get there before the tower closed plan was to plan their drop-off his sister-in-law and then at Nora where he was going to land and he is why we're going to attend right now I'm finding myself even though there's some lights out there that I can see both on the Danny and Long Island Sound start to find myself really closely just looking at my instruments kind of foolish too sure to try to orient myself based on what I'm seeing down there some kind of already relying on my instruments which is a good thing because then when I get out over the open water already kind of focused on them and settled it on the insurance there often isn't should be that should be right there brought an airport and pods options to talk as I said this is not intended by any stretch to be a criticism what happened to him there's about 500 policy here that lose their lives due to Deer Park Lighting's into I am seeing it happened to me I just happened to still be here and be able to tell you about it because I spot that situation a couple of other notes of interest is that JFK had permit his people the cast they would live the cast that it was kind of addictive walk with me right and you don't think that that was a factor based on what I've read he was able to inflate the rudder pedals fine so my only tribute that cause or that to have been a cause the accident importance the spatial disorientation and the absence of Wi-Fi Internet yeah thing is it's happened to me I may play mistake someone airplane it's happened to me work I'll take off it's night we have four conditions but as you're pinched up on your climb out you lose your reference and get to the ground lights that might be down there I found myself thinking up street level and it glanced down at me not an indicator on for myself that I'm in like a that's totally turn but go right make an adjustment based on the attitude then I found myself questioning whether he had it's accurate today and reach over to for flight in cars for what the attitude there's tell me oh sure enough the instruments are right and so point being any one of us and can't be right it only to farm that is right based on your what are your heading Timoner everything all together insurance are telling you a concern across the rapid Symphony attic daddy and correct you have to disregard like your sense of what is straight and level flight at trap that's why the reasons requires a lot of training constantly perishable see how that shifted rotten Airport there right off the nose there's that's pretty much it / I think there might be one other smaller airport coming here at Martha's Vineyard you can say that way inaudible sectional western state Airport which is control downtown airport that's pretty much it from fraud departments be here airports and not long after you pass crime you're cut out of land so you want to have those lights that we're seeing here so I can kind of use those and get partly why okay use in this reference therefore here bringing about flying by visual flight rules but that's kind of limited as we get off the get away from the coastline here over the water that's going to all change we have similar most at 20 miles new one artists me is something I've always wanted to do in the simulators never you know I I could have no certainly downloaded the Saratoga airplane and flowed into it it was kind of cool but it makes sense to me to just download an airplane and try to learn the nuances a better places for them when lightning to the purposes of the demonstration religious event of what airplane to fly you're flying it and similarly as his airplane was on that date or to get a single engine and the award wanted to really see how to keep yes and autopilot when using autopilot yes very simple fashion program here just as I said earlier for departure and destination airports this case I'm only using a single B or because this airplane is not equipment that's fine I'm just having two somewhat you don't flip flop Paris New York frequencies as our flight compresses but I grew up on island so South Shore never flew there it's the airspace she's climbing all the best problems like following her of the plane in a brothel in clearance like sight I went away and I'm like in cuts and on stage you see pocket is someone who can ask about lender and reports pilot reports they can advise you destination any advantage has come from targeting senior into play knows I'm somewhere around 10 miles to go probably what we're seeing here sounds like this is probably run questions so after we get past westerly state take route airports airports Courtney lighting system you're fine no did this route but no certainly I get this when I fly good idea always to the sauce frequencies while you're playing along like TuneIn delegate broaden New London information November zero hundred Zulu weather went to zero zero and seven visibility 10 sky clear temperature three 12.7 altimeter to nine nine zero yes sir certainly they do this one I file content into multiple different airports on when we pass into engineering sauce frequencies and listeners has changed my barometric setting in the altimeter I'm not sure what he did on that day I think what they found airplane they discovered that he had his frequency of Martha Feeny when he was off like what engines would No that would be Elizabeth right there right Westeros in replying wine openers Delta airspace above thousands turn stealing human Delta Airspace there switchover down north like forget it and over here so we're just going to go right back to by that outbound seedy guys control sensitive the station Circe got me that well little life go by when you land microphone button we come the lights so now workout down think about that we agreed was he playing that metal authority see if we get that marked as we need for you are gonna run out of land here pretty soon skywriter here okay crossing runways couple options wind direction it's coward Airport however I was in here which is the Broadway favorite there gracias pick it up tomorrow correct everyone there that's it for navigation radios we're just gonna stick with the mvy you are and Marcus bein all the way in now he got into trouble in descending from 5,500 before his approach into Martha's way here that's where that spatial disorientation like your plate this said it leveled off I started singing said as destination wouldn't you love them as couple options in the street here one of which you over land might miss get a ticket pretty good ways out of your way but you would go more to the north pretty much stay over land all the way and just a very short crossing over the bulk of the water he chose to fly in direct route open-water with your sweet like this course the 55 miles to go Marcus right now here pretty soon this little sliver here of land for nine years the water without whose life that look like bring em on so again the Piper Saratoga claude-michel be was a 1998 airplane hood in 99 dollars in airplane I said earlier it's 300 horsepower our thoughts and it had the latest greatest antibiotics guess what it certainly made it as prevalent Martha's Vineyard information November zero hundred Zulu weather when to 0-0 at 7:00 visibility 10 sky clear temperature 3 12.7 altimeter to 9 9 0 arriving runway one-five departing runway one-five advise on initial contact you have November from the this side of the year Martha's Vineyard information November zero hundred Zulu weather went to zero zero and seven visibility 10 sky clear temperature three 12.7 altimeter to nine nine zero 47 months run out of coastline here very soon right behind us now already try to imagine yourself blind forget about this over here this wasn't here before see those lights down here this is all you have what's in front of us I wouldn't want try playing that you'd be right in other words reporting conditions of Myanmar technically compliant in individual flight rules this isn't me as I want my own so I've been pretty much I've been as I said earlier I've been flying by engineering just instinctively punch down there to make me wanna fly visual flight rules I think I'll be trying he had just begun instrument flight training apparently on again on in approach so it was funny they don't think that complaint rate was comfortable with it I mean learning instruments is like learning a foreign language you know it just doesn't start initially it doesn't make much sense then all of a sudden he collects and starts making sense I don't know that he reach that point and so wasn't necessarily comfortable in trouble that is already that he had done as much later training as I didn't that's it that's all we have out there it's just black sky going into black water I mean I can't tell where the horizon is gone I see stars I'm not even sure he had that but I'm gonna leave it where it is and even where it is I mean there's except for this little man that I stay on here I don't know why that unless you look at your attitude altimeter so to be right now 100% of everyone there's nothing to look at about 39 miles yet as a lookout I'm not sure he had that we see right here to the level of course you do not sure he had even those visual references so maybe with all the horses when you carry ten miles out we're inspecting based on the areas put us in a bright face and as I said earlier he had was later to him I don't know if landed there at night didn't have a lot of time get them tracking directly on the horse correct and when you're I could be found it's still at about 5500 altimeter is set you are about my approach pretty much like this most likely be given and right things that Center because look at that right out of you want to make sure all the engines are adjustments as necessary oh boy these things I suspect you he was not doing at the time trying to do that uh not really relying on his own senses I guess it's them and I probably it's in this earlier but probably wasn't even able to see the stars dealing with it's a hot summer day the point spread was freaking closer together toward evening the channel marker beyond the nose again 5500 we're tracking him down on this radial probably somewhere five miles yeah what I found when I was flying when I was doing my brother pilot training because it was flying so many hours in the simulator by instructor to tell me hey look outside the airplane you're blaming me apart here and so I started to some bad habits I guess flanked by in Germany when I was supposed to be employed by visual flight rules which is not a good thing for you what a certainly reference rate bearable on the flipside when I got into trouble and got into my MC that became a plus for me can you forced himself but as I've said attention walk yourself into we spent most of our lives and honored me by the sight and so your brain is just trained to rely on what you see to get you really want to go up break so you sir have to hunt rate yourself on those our game will apply by visual flight rules about 20 miles my pores you are no misuki to new york pieces what's really it was using the award allegations Martha's Vineyard information November zero hundred Zulu withered when to 0-0 at 7:00 visibility 10 sky clear temperature 3 12.7 altimeter to 9 9 0 arriving runway one-five departing runway one-five just under 20 wells three starting kettle to say here kind of a Murray's descent this is about where he got himself into trouble which started his descent it could be arising this that he may have had some better visual conditions at 5500 and as he descended that he created potentially and will contact hours No pattern 13 Moselle still really not much to see out there again picture what was going through his mind probably trying to think to himself well like you feel like I'm straight level every now and then maybe glance at your bits in like what they were telling them maybe just believe them as is often the case sometimes it would be a bar pilot poison I've seen all those things are happening get down it was on the Descent that he got into trouble so maybe he was getting distracted trying to look at his altimeter didn't like what you see didn't like his rate of descent whatever the case sometimes we get over fixated on one instrument you're not scanned and the other instruments biggert our Saratoga 9 or 2 5 3 November is 1 0 to the west landing a fight Saratoga Manor can plan 3 November be near tower plan on entering right basically what five planet right based on what five star 39 or 200 we're healthy right by the way so it's a challenge landing at our airports especially when you try to do it at night Sartain toget 9 or 2 by 3 November major teller 45 miles right base for runway one-five report by mom red beets were way more planned Saratoga 9 or 2 o'clock 3 November so again for you that are anybody here to kind of reference delay that's our present Etisalat a right bass now in your town or Saratoga another new country November 5 are eight days from Saratoga Anarchy 5 3 November major tower Roger wins 2 to 0 at 7:00 clear to land runway one-five a flavor we like 579 or 200 it still have a little agent of hizmet is really nothing out here to see kind of turn and look at the airport and sort of line up at the front way that's all well and good we can look out here there's really nothing to see and I always use my heading indicator for essay I kind of treated like I'm moving back now I suspected at this point you would have had in airport conditions as I understand them would have permitted that it's just a promise when you get out over over the water we're so poor that it was essentially a bullet IMC boy what a turn a swamps like cross when they're speechless there's basically there's no passier passing records glideslope do it the old-fashioned way [Music] so that's the the flight that John F Kennedy jr. took out of the airport in Essex County flying along the south shore of Connecticut North Shore of Long Island along the Long Island Sound he flew underneath the bravo airspace and then climbed to 5,500 continuing eastbound eventually lost any reference to the land as he left the south coast of Connecticut on the expanse of water between Martha's Vineyard in Connecticut and then apparently as he was a approaching Martha's Vineyard and began as to send into Martha's Vineyard became spatially disoriented and went into what's referred to as a death spiral the plane became inverted and was descending at a rate of about five thousand feet per minute when it made contact with the water the airplane was found some days later recovered and brought into a hangar and analyzed it was determined that there was no malfunction with the flight controls avionics so it was determined that it was a spatial disorientation situation where the pilot was trying to fly based on his own senses as opposed to the instruments and just to show you easy that can happen we replicated that flight over the water in VFR conditions and we really couldn't see the horizon and couldn't fly the airplane solely by reference to terrain below us and the horizon had to rely on instruments on this flight to bring it in to Martha's Vineyard safely today so that was a replication of the flight in a different type of airplane but the conditions were the same again that was July 16th 1999 flight began at 8:30 8 p.m. and ended just over an hour later off the coast of Martha's Vineyard thanks for joining me today on this flight and I look forward to seeing you again next time [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you you

Channel: SOG Pilot

Views: 59,362

Keywords: Piper Cherokee, X-Plane 11, X-Plane 11 Piper Cherokee, X-Plane 11 ForeFlight, ForeFlight, Fore Flight, Lightspeed, PilotEdge, Pilot Edge, X-Plane 11 Pilot Edge, X-Plane 11 Pilotedge, X-Plane 11 IFR, X-Plane 11 VFR, VRF, IFR, IFR Flight Plan, Piper Cherokee GoPro, KTIW, Tacoma Narrows, JFK JR, MARTHAS VINEYARD, ESSEX COUNTY, CAROLYN BESSETTE, LAUREN BESSETTE

Id: -qKxQ_lYkpY

Length: 101min 41sec (6101 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 30 2020