I’ve been dreading this day. I’ve been staring at my JFK JR. file for months. I just want it off my desk. Like yesterday. I tried to make this as comprehensive as possible, though I know there are plenty of holes (two in particular) in the story, and missing photos. 

John spent most of the day in business meetings. He went home, changed his clothes (a white tank top, white slacks, and a backwards baseball cap), played with their dog Friday, then hopped in his white Hyundai convertible to the airport.

Lauren worked for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter on Wall Street, as an investment banker. She had to work late that night, thus pushing the flight back, and no doubt pissing everybody off. Lauren and Carolyn arrived at the airport in a Lincoln Town Car. Carolyn was wearing black slacks and a black blouse, and Lauren wore a beige dress (honestly.) that she’d worn to work that day.

The last person to see them on the ground was another pilot named Kyle Bailey. Bailey was planning to fly to Martha’s Vineyard as well, but opted out, due to poor weather conditions.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s official report (Courtesy of Celebrity Collectables.com – thanks Ted!)

"The pilot received his private pilot certificate in April 1998. He did not possess an instrument rating. Interviews and training records revealed that the pilot had accumulated about 300 hours of total flight experience. These hours did not include the recent experience gained in the accident airplane.

On July 16, 1999, about 2141 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-32-R301, Saratoga II, N9253N, was destroyed during a collision with water approximately 7 ½ miles south-west of Gay Head, Martha’s Vineyard, MA. The certificated pilot and two passengers were fatally injured.

The flight departed Essex County Airport at 2038. The pilot informed the DCW tower controller that he would be proceeding north of the Teterboro Airport, and then eastbound. There is no record of any further communications between the pilot and the air traffic control system."

About 150 miles from the crash site, an American Airlines crew saw the plane, and all looked hunky dory. Hello-hooooo!

A review of the radar data revealed that the plane began a descent from 5,600 feet about 34 miles from the Martha’s Vineyard Airport. The airspeed was 160 knots and the rate of descent was about 700 feet per minute. About 2,300 feet, the plane began a turn to the right and climbed back to 2,600 feet. It remained there for one minute while tracking on a southeasterly heading. The plane then started a descent of about 700 feet per minute and a left turn back to the east. Thirty seconds into the maneuver, the plane started another turn to the right and entered a rate of descent that exceeded 4,700 feet per minute (very very fast.) The altitude of the last recorded target was 1,100 feet.

Someone claiming to be a Navy SEAL called the Howard Stern show, and said, "they died instantly when the plane hit the water at an 80 degree angle." He added, "highly classified photos of the wreckage and the three bodies were taken by the Navy during the extraction and retrieval mission. The main cabin was crumpled, ripped and torn, resembling an empty, crushed Budweiser (Carolyn's favorite) can. At no time did any of the bodies become decapitated or dismembered in any way." He adds, "One of the women was thrown through the metal wall of the plane by the incredible impact. Her body was found about 25 feet from the main cabin section. The other woman was found crumpled up in the rear of the plane’s cabin."

Meanwhile at the Kennedy compound, the rehearsal dinner for the wedding was underway. John and Carolyn were due to arrive just after 9pm. By 10:00, a couple which were at the airport to meet them became concerned. Airport employee Adam Budd phoned the Federal Aviation Administration and asked them to trace it – but no action was taken (Budd hadn’t made it clear that the plane was overdue). By midnight, the Kennedys were worried and phoned the Coast Guard. By 8am the next day, dozens of aircraft and ships searched for the plane. The Kennedys had a big mass on their front porch, as you do.

By the middle of Saturday afternoon, a piece of luggage with Lauren’s tag on it had washed up. They continued searching (and who wasn’t glued to the dullest CNN broadcast in history) throughout the weekend. By Sunday, they stopped looking for survivors, and the search became a "recovery" rather than a "rescue." Officials at Arlington National Cemetery (at their own initiative) measured the plot of JFK Sr., in case John would be buried there. "There were measurements taken yesterday… to be prepared for any future inquiry from the family." The Kennedys took down the big tent in Hyannis.

Back to the accident report:

On Tuesday July 20, 1999 about 2240, the plane was located in 116 feet of water, about ¼ of a mile north of the 1,100-foot radar target position. The engine, propeller hub and blades, and entire tail section were recovered. The entire span of both main wings’ spars was also recovered. Additionally, about 75 percent of the fuselage/cabin area, 80 percent of the left wing structure, and 60% of the right wing were recovered. The recovered wreckage was taken from an area that was about 120 feet long.

Meanwhile, two flatbed trucks under police escort transported the wreckage of the plane to the Coast Guard hangar, in Otis Air Force Base, Mass.

Preliminary examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of an in-flight structural failure or fire. They also found that the landing gear was fully retracted, and the propeller was indeed operating at the time of the crash. That ruled out mechanical failure.

Pilots who had flown the same route were interviewed after the accident. These pilots reported that the in-flight visibility over the water was significantly reduced.

The next day, the Kennedy’s had a memorial service in New York, at St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church (thanks Tom) which is on 89th Street between Madison and Park Avenues. That's where Jackie used to pray. The guests included Muhammad Ali, the Clintons, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria, Jackie’s old flame Maurice, and Diane Sawyer.

The Bessettes threw their own shindig in Greenwich, Connecticut, at the Christ Church. This one focused on Lauren more. A few Kennedys showed up, but that was about it.

In February of 2000, the Kennedy family settled out of court with the Bessettes, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Who didn’t see that one coming? The Kennedys coughed up 10 Mil.

Oh yeah, Rory finally got married, in Greece. Two weeks after the crash.

Trivia: John smoked a single cigarette every day, and had a shamrock tattoo on his buttock.

June 2002 - don't know if this is true, but my good pal KK sends me this gossip:  The Day John Died revealed that JFK Jr. was into porn flicks--so much so that he hung onto them for re-viewing and had to pay close to $1,000 in late fees to one video store for all his overdue adult videos.

More: He never saw the movie JFK. God, could you imagine? He would have had to have had that conversation with his mother about it. "Mom, remember when you scooped dad’s brains up off the trunk of that limo in Dallas? Where did the bullet come from?" That is an amazing perspective that we will never ever know. Unless Caroline spills it.  Also, wouldn't you kill to have Jackie's pink suit?  I think its probably the most famous piece of clothing in the world.  Remember when Daryl Hannah wore a similar costume on the cover of SPY magazine, back when she was dating JFK Jr?  Imagine Jackie hearing about that for the first time.