John F. Kennedy, Jr.’s plane, a red-and-white Piper Saratoga, did not have a black box—a device typically only used on commercial flights to record flight data as well as audio in the cockpit. (Kennedy purchased the plane around May 1999, and it was faster and more complex than his previous Cessna.) After the aircraft crashed off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard on July 16, 1999, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reconstructed its final moments using radar data. The investigation determined that Kennedy had become spatially disoriented and entered into what is known as a “graveyard spiral.” Because he was not instrument rated, Kennedy relied on visual clues, which were nonexistent as he flew over open water in darkness and haze. He began a tightening spiral dive, descending at a rate of more than 4,700 feet (1,432 meters) per minute, with the plane eventually nose-down. Approximately 17 seconds after entering the dive, the aircraft crashed into the ocean, killing Kennedy, his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette.
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