JFK Jr.’s ‘Recklessness’ Blamed for His & Carolyn Bessette’s Fatal Plane Crash as Sources Reveal the 1 Way He Could’ve Saved Their Lives—He ‘Bears the Responsibility Alone’
Ryan Murphy’s Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette has made people reexamine the tragic death of President JFK’s son, as well as his marriage to Carolyn Bessette. And though most of the show has been about their lives and the relationship, most people already knew a tragic ending was coming.
But how did JFK Jr. die? What about Carolyn Bessette? What did the investigation say?
What Was John F Kennedy Jr’s Cause of Death?
On July 16, 1999, the small plane JFK Jr. was piloting crashed into the ocean, with him, his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren dying in the crash. The two were on their way to Rory Kennedy’s wedding.
“We are filled with unspeakable grief and sadness by the loss of John and Carolyn, and Lauren Bessette. John was a shining light in all our lives and in the lives of the nation and the world that first came to know him as a little boy,” Sen. Ted Kennedy said at the time in a statement on behalf of the Kennedy family.
Meanwhile, Carolyn and Lauren’s family also released a statement, “Each of these three young people — Lauren Bessette, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. — was the embodiment of love, accomplishment and passion for life. John and Carolyn were true soul mates [and took] solace in the thought that together they will comfort Lauren for eternity.”
But what exactly happened? Reports indicate that Kennedy became disoriented while flying through very thick fog over the coast of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. This caused the plane to spiral downward and crash into the Atlantic Ocean. The Washington Post reported that the plane’s descent was quick, taking around 30 seconds. Navy divers recovered the three bodies on July 21, 1999. Autopsies concluded they all died upon impact.
In July 2000, the National Transportation Safety Board declared in a report that the most likely cause of the crash was pilot error.
Kennedy’s friend, historian Steven M. Gillon, told People, “At the first sign of danger, he should have done what a lot of pilots did that night and flew inland, away from the ocean, spend the night somewhere and then pick up the next morning,…It was [John’s] poor judgment that led to his death and the death of his wife and his sister-in-law, and there’s no way around that. John bears the responsibility of his recklessness that night and John alone.”
Experts believe the three didn’t have time to understand what was going on. “In my personal opinion, I don’t think the passengers knew what was happening to them,” Jeff Guzzetti, who was a National Transportation Safety Board investigator at the time of Kennedy’s death said in the book JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography. “They might have felt a little G-force pushing them down in their seats. You would’ve heard the rush of air over the fuselage accelerate or get louder, during the final fatal plunge … And then they hit the surface of the water and it’s over.”
