JFK Jr., Wife, Sister-In-Law Presumed Dead in Crash
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The Phillies post 18 hits as they knock around the Red Sox, 11-3 – D1 LOTTERY, PAGE A2 THE WEATHER Volume 256 Today: Sunny, humid, 95 Tomorrow: Clouding up, 86 Number 18 Details, Page B4 $1.50 fghijkl *** SUNDAY, JULY 18, 1999 Inside A grim search JFK Jr., wife, sister-in-law presumed dead in crash By Mitchell Zuckoff and Matthew Brelis GLOBE STAFF Once again, John F. Kennedy Jr., who Moon struck crawled out from under his father’s anguish and Oval Office desk into a life of trage- Thirty years ago this week- dy-tinged celebrity, was presumed end during a summer ofsocial dead yesterday along with his wife disbelief upheaval, Americans watched and her sister when the small plane in awe and fascination as as- he was piloting apparently crashed By David M. Shribman tronauts walked on the moon. off Martha’s Vineyard. GLOBE STAFF Today, it is a memory they’ll Hope that the glamorous and never forget. B1 free-spirited member of the nation’s Even now, no words prompt so most chronicled political family had much anguish, so much grief, so simply made an unscheduled landing much disbeliefas these: John F. dimmed when wreckage and luggage Kennedy is were found off Philbin’s Beach at the Commentary dead. westernmost end ofthe island. A Those short walk down the beach is the words flew around the country yes- Vineyard home that Kennedy and his terday in frantic electronic pulses, sister inherited from their mother, though this time it was not news of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. the death ofa president but ofhis As darkness fell, no bodies had son, missing and feared dead after a been found, and an intensive search small-plane crash. involving the Coast Guard, Air This time the fragmentary re- Force, Air National Guard, National ports did not throw the government Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- into convulsion. This time the trage- tration, Civil Air Patrol, and scores of dy did not come at a time ofCold private vessels continued into the War peril. This time the news will night. not freeze a nation in a frightful Investigators said it was too early memory. Search continues to speculate on the cause ofthe But the news that tragedy had crash, but preliminary efforts are fo- apparently struck another Kennedy Police continued looking for Melis- cusing on Kennedy’s becoming disor- – indeed, a young man bearing the sa Gosule in Halifax and Falmouth iented because ofpoor visibility and very name ofthe slain president – yesterday. They’ve searched the losing control ofthe plane, fuelmis- still had the power to shock a nation woods, in the waters, and along management, or loss ofcontrol after that has come to believe it is all but the roadways, using dogs, divers, doing a flyby of the family property. inured to shock. helicopters, and volunteers, but Kennedy, 38, a onetime Manhat- Because the fearful phrase – still haven’t located the substitute tan prosecutor who left the law to be- John F. Kennedy is dead – has a teacher who disappeared last Sun- come publisher ofGeorge magazine, special meaning and triggers, for day after her car broke down on was accompanied by his wife, Caro- many, a cascade ofemotion and Cape Cod. B1 lyn Bessette Kennedy, and her older memory: The flag-draped casket. sister, Lauren Bessette. They were The widow’s unfailing courage. The Broken accord aboard his single-engine Piper Sara- funeral Mass in St. Matthew’s Ca- thedral. The foghorn voice of Cardi- Kevin Cullen writes that the toga II HP, a plane the novice pilot had purchased just 10 weeks ago. nal Richard Cushing. The skirling of agreement to return local rule to Kennedy and his wife planned to the bagpipers from the Black Northern Ireland may have been drop off her sister on Martha’s Vine- Watch. The gathering ofworld lead- doomed by too strict demands on yard, then head to Hyannis for the ers from France’s Charles DeGaulle too tough a deadline. A3. wedding ofa cousin, Rory Kennedy, to Canada’s Lester Pearson. daughter ofthe late Senator Robert And the salute, unbearably AP PHOTO / DENIS REGGIE brave, ofthe president’s son on the Eyeing the frontrunner John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy after their wedding in 1996. The two, along with F. Kennedy. The wedding scheduled for yesterday was postponed, and COMMENTARY, Page A19 The strength ofGOP presidential Carolyn’s sister, Lauren Bessette, had been en route Friday night to Martha’s Vineyard. KENNEDY, Page A14 candidate George W. Bush has op- ponents grasping for strategies to slow his momentum – but he only Aircraft and pilot seems to be growing stronger. A8 The flight The search 8:38 p.m. 2:15 a.m. 6:13 a.m. New to plane, he Plane leaves Essex County Family friend notifies Civil Air Patrol joins the Airport in Fairfield, N.J. Coast Guard in Woods search, focusing on Long was familiar with 9:39 p.m. Hole plane is late. Island area. FAA radar tracks plane on final 3:28 a.m. 7:55 a.m. approach at 2,200 feet Air Force takes charge of A Coast Guard helicopter Vineyard airport altitude, descending at 500 the search. starts the search around feet per minute. Twelve seconds 4:29 a.m. Martha’s Vineyard. later, the plane was at 1,300 Coast Guard begins 1:00 p.m. By Anthony Flint and Matthew Brelis feet altitude. Twelve seconds search off Long Island. Search narrows to area GLOBE STAFF after that, it disappeared from 17 miles west-southwest d radar. un So of Martha’s Vineyard Visibility wasn’t optimal. He wasn’t li- d ar airport. y Concordia celebration censed to fly using instruments only, and e n The plane’s last position i Nantucket Sound some fellow pilots suggest he should have V To the sailors who own them, Con- on radar is 17 miles west- AIRPORT brought a flight instructor. He had just up- STATE cordia yawls are in a class by southwest of the airport, graded to a more powerful and complicated about 6 miles from shore. FOREST 5 MILES themselves. The graceful boats plane. were under sail yesterday in a re- But as he headed for the small airport The first sign of wreckage is found at 1:30 yesterday gatta in Buzzard’s Bay. B1 on Martha’s Vineyard Friday night, John F. afternoon 100 yards off Philbin Beach in Aquinnah, often called Gay Head. GLOBE STAFF PHOTO / EVAN RICHMAN Bad cell, good cell Kennedy Jr. knew where he was going. A suitcase and a plane wheel were found yesterday in the ‘‘He was a good pilot and as familiar surfoffAquinnah,on Martha’s Vineyard. Some companies are seeing prom- with this airport as someone ofhis experi- GLOBE STAFF GRAPHIC / SEAN McNAUGHTON ising results in using patients’ own ence could be,’’ said Arthur Marx, chiefpilot for Flywright Aviation at Martha’s Vine- The search tumor cells to make cancer vac- yard Airport, where Kennedy and his first cines. G1 plane, a Cessna Skyline 182, were seen fre- quently over the last year. First a call ofalarm, then debris and a growing sense ofdread What made Mac run? In April, Kennedy purchased his new plane – a 1996 model Piper Saratoga II HP, By dawn yesterday, hundreds ofmilitary At that point, Kennedy’s plane, which took When prominent Hartford lawyer By Ross Kerber and Carlos Montje a 300-horsepower, single-engine six-seater – and civilian rescuers had begun to scan about off from Essex County Airport in Fairfield, F. Mac Buckley vanished for seven GLOBE STAFF AND GLOBE CORRESPONDENT for an estimated $300,000. It was originally 6,000 square miles ofocean and coastline from N.J., had been missing for 15½ hours. weeks his friends were mystified. used by a private North Carolina company, The call came in to the Coast Guard station Long Island to Martha’s Vineyard, searching Judging by the debris, Coast Guard officials The case still baffles. Magazine then by Munir Hussain ofHasbrouck, N.J., in Woods Hole about 2:15 a.m.: An airplane pi- for clues to the aircraft’s location. yesterday believed that the airplane had who sold it to Kennedy through a broker. loted by John F. Kennedy Jr., expected to ar- At about 1:30 p.m., in the surfnear Aquin- ditched into the Atlantic, perhaps miles short of Government and company records indicate rive on Martha’s Vineyard just before 10 p.m., nah, some clues were found: a headrest, bits of the airport in West Tisbury. Last night, Kenne- News guide, index – A2 no history ofmechanical problems. had not shown up. carpet, an aircraft support with a wheel at- dy and his passengers, his wife, Carolyn Bes- ! Globe Newspaper Co. Kennedy learned to fly at Florida-based It took nearly an hour and a halflonger tached, and a canvas bag with identification sette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bes- 29712 Flight Safety International and obtained his before an initial search was launched and the from Kennedy’s sister-in-law – one of the pas- sette, were presumed dead. PLANE, Page A18 plane’s disappearance officially noted. sengers on board the Piper Saratoga II HP. SEARCH, Page A19 Complete Kennedy crash coverage on pages A12-A20 0 947726 1.