John F. Kennedy Jr.
The UPI
article about radio contact and an explosion in the sky.
Cited under fair use for non-profit educational
purposes.
My comments follow.
(UPI Focus) Hopes fade for missing Kennedy
plane AQUINNAH, Mass.,
July 17 (UPI) - After a daylong unsuccessful search for a missing single-engine
plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr., the National
Transportation Safety Board
is launching an investigation into the aircraft's disappearance. An official statement
tonight says an NTSB team has been dispatched to Martha's Vineyard in
Massachusetts as the Coast Guard continues to coordinate "aggressive
search-and-rescue activities." As daylight faded, Air Force helicopters returned
to Otis Air Force Base, to resume the search Sunday morning. Hopes faded today as bits of debris from the Piper
Saratoga were recovered and a piece of luggage was positively identified as
belonging to Lauren Bessette, Kennedy's sister-in-law. Kennedy's wife, 33-year-old
Carolyn Bessette, was also traveling with him. The luggage, along with what appeared to be an
airplane tire, washed up on Philbin Beach on Martha's Vineyard, and Lauren
Bessette's name was on the tag of a black suitcase, said First District Coast
Guard spokesman Lt. Gary Jones. Jones said other debris - a head rest and
carpeting that appeared to be from the plane - were found this afternoon
floating in the water about 100 yards from nearby Gay Head Beach. Kennedy and the Bessette
sisters were traveling from Caldwell, New Jersey, to Hyannis Port for the
wedding of Mark Bailey and Rory Kennedy, the last unmarried daughter of Ethel
Kennedy and the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The event was postponed, and what should have
been a joyous gathering of the clan turned into a grim vigil as members of the
Kennedy family waited anxiously at their storied oceanfront compound for word
on the fate of the three.
An outdoor family mass was held, presided over by three Roman Catholic
priests, as Mrs. Kennedy, other family members and around 275 guests gathered
to pray. Among those
present were Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy,
Rory's older brother and JFK Jr.'s cousin, and U.S. Housing Secretary Andrew
Cuomo, who is married to Kerry Kennedy. John Kennedy's older sister, Carolyn Kennedy
Schlossberg, was away on a rafting trip and had not planned to attend the
wedding. Sen.
Kennedy's son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., was also away in California and
immediately flew back to Boston, according to media reports. Family spokesman Brian
O'Connor said the family was initially hopeful that the three would be found
alive. But he said the
mood at the compound turned somber when debris, apparently from the plane, began
washing up on the western end of Martha's Vineyard. There was no immediate comment from any of the
family members. Before
the effort was scaled back at sunset, Rear Adm. Richard M. Larrabee told
journalists the Coast Guard was still in a search-and- rescue mode. But the
dispatch of federal investigators suggests authorities are now presuming the
plane has crashed.
Coast Guard cutters equipped with high-powered lights will continue to
search the sea south of Martha's Vineyard throughout the night. Earlier in the day, the
Civil Air Patrol withdrew from the search 15 aircraft that were combing a
15-by-15-mile grid from Long Island to Martha's Vineyard after debris and
luggage washed ashore on Philbin Beach. Jones said the Coast Guard was notified about
the missing plane at around 3 a.m. EDT, and the search started
immediately. About 15
Coast Guard and Air Force aircraft and some 150 personnel joined in the
search. Kennedy, a
licensed private pilot, was expected to arrive at Martha's Vineyard Airport in
Massachusetts in his Piper Saratoga II TC sometime before 10 p.m. Friday. At 9:39 p.m. Friday, Kennedy
radioed the airport and said he was 13 miles from the airport and 10 miles from
the coast, according to WCVB-TV news in Boston. He reportedly said he was
making his final approach. Moments later, radar operated by the
Federal Aviation Administration showed the plane went into a dive and dropped
1,200 feet in just 12 seconds, according to ABC News. In his final approach message,
WCVB-TV said Kennedy told controllers at the airport that he planned to drop
off his wife's sister and then take off again between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
for Hyannis Airport. Kennedy's family then called Hyannis Airport -
around 2:15 a.m., reports say - when he failed to arrive. The airport then
checked with the Martha's Vineyard airport, and the search began. The plane took off from
Essex County Airport in Caldwell, N.J., at 8:38 p.m. Friday and lost contact
with the FAA on its final approach to Martha's Vineyard, Mass., said Coast
Guard spokesman Steve Carleton. An emergency beacon thought to belong to the plane was
activated and heard by the Coast Guard in Long Island, N.Y., at 3:40 a.m. But
as the search went on, authorities seemed to discount the relevance of the
beacon signal. Kurt
Hartman, spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard's district headquarters in New
Haven, Conn., said this morning, "We received a call from our district
office in Boston directing us to conduct a shoreline search off Horton Point,
in Long Island Sound, for an emergency locating transmitting beacon." But by 10:30 a.m., the
Coast Guard was no longer receiving a signal from the emergency beacon that was
believed to be on Kennedy's small plane. Petty Officer Virginia Adams in Boston confirmed
to United Press International that the Coast Guard lost the signal Saturday
morning. Adams also confirmed that Kennedy was piloting the plane, and that his
wife and sister-in-law were aboard. Jamie Gaspar, spokesman for Martha's Vineyard
Airport, told UPI that "someone was at the airport to pick up the
passengers on the plane, but it never arrived." A reporter for the Vineyard Gazette
newspaper told WCVB-TV in Boston that he was out walking Friday night about the
time of the crash and saw "big white flash in the sky" off Philbin
Beach. Kennedy
did not file a flight plan, leading some to first suspect he altered his route.
But by 9 a.m., his arrival at Martha's Vineyard was more than 12 hours late,
and the Kennedy family postponed the wedding he was traveling to attend. The Air Force and Air
National Guard mounted a massive air search using helicopters, Falcon jets and
a TC-130 aircraft over a 1,000- square-mile search area that eventually
concentrated on Martha's Vineyard. The ongoing Coast Guard search involves a
47-foot utility boat, two 41-foot utility boats and an 87-foot patrol boat, as
well as two Coast Guard helicopters. Expected to join the search late tonight was a
special ship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration equipped
with sonar to conduct underwater searches. A special infrared-equipped helicopter was also
set to join the nighttime search. Its temperature-sensitive equipment is
capable of detecting a person in the water. Kennedy Jr. - the only son of President John F.
Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and the nephew of Sen. Ted Kennedy,
D-Mass. - has worked as an assistant district attorney and is currently the
editor of the political magazine George. Kennedy, 38, married Carolyn Bessette
during a secretive ceremony in 1996. WCVB-TV says Kennedy got his pilot's license
last year after undergoing training at Flight Safety International, a respected
pilots' school in Florida. He was licensed to fly visually, but not by using
instruments alone. Visibility at the
time was reported to be 8 miles, clear enough to fly without instruments. The Piper Aircraft Co. says
the six-passenger plane Kennedy was flying was built in 1995. WCVB-TV says
Kennedy bought it in April of this year. White House Chief of Staff John Podesta
telephoned President Clinton this morning at Camp David with news of the
missing plane. Clinton and Kennedy have met often. In a statement issued from Camp David, where he
is spending the weekend, Clinton said, "All our prayers and thoughts are
with the families of those on board." The president has asked to be kept
informed about the search effort. Kennedy is a native of Washington. He was born
on Nov. 25, 1960, just two months before his father was inaugurated as
president. -- Copyright 1999 by United
Press International.
All rights reserved.
--
Copyright 1999 by United Press International
Okay. We now know from eyewitness accounts and from the weather radar picture that the air was actually
clear enough for people on the ground to see aircraft out over the ocean. Ergo,
if this witness saw a white flash up "in the sky" (as opposed to
"on the ocean") then it was indeed up in the sky.
Note that this article also reports 8 mile
visibility.
I hadn't noticed it before, but the beacon signal is
interesting. It starts at about the correct time for the crash, but in the
wrong location, then just as mysteriously shuts off sometime later.
Misdirection?
Mail to: What Really
Happened
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