A chronology of the search and recovery operation undertaken for the aircraft piloted by John F. Kennedy, Jr., with his wife Carolyn and her sister Lauren Bessette. A multi-agency search operation involving search and rescue aircraft and ships from the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Civil Air Patrol, the NOAA, and the Massachusetts State Police.
John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, died when the light aircraft he was flying crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on July 16, 1999. Kennedy's wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren Bessette, were also killed. The Piper Saratoga departed from New Jersey's Essex County Airport, and its intended route was along the coastline of Connecticut and across Rhode Island Sound to Martha's Vineyard Airport.
The official investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board officially concluded that Kennedy fell victim to spatial disorientation while he was descending over water at night and consequently lost control of his plane. Kennedy did not hold an instrument rating and therefore he was only certified to fly under visual flight rules. At the time of the crash, the weather and light conditions were such that all basic landmarks were obscured, making visual flight challenging, although legally still permissible.