John F. Kennedy Jr
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
lllililllililtlfitila Awaiting further news of the crash search on July 19, a stoic Ethel Kennedy heads home in Hyannis- poft after going sailing with (from left) daughter-in- law Mary, son Dou- glas, Father Michael Kennedy, a cousin, son Max and his wife, Vicki. 19 d 6ffin a business trip to Toronto five days be- Stein, "curious about everything." When it was ffi ffifore his death, John F. Kennedy Jr. was time to leave, Kennedy, who had flown in on his 0n July 20, ffiqWin ffihobbling around on a left ankle broken private plane from Martha's Vineyard, Mass., Massachusetts a recent paragliding accident. His with a flight instructor, talked about his love of State Police divers crutches scarcely slowed him down. Keith Stein, flying. He lamented that on the trip back to New begin a day of 35, the Toronto businessman who had helped York he wouldn't have a chance to fly at night, searching for broker a meeting with a potential investor in which he especially enjoyed because of the nav- the wreckage of Kennedy's George magazine, marveled at his igation challenges. JFK Jr.'s plane in guest's energy and fascination with the people Kennedy always exhibited a healthy skepti- the waters west of and things around him. "He was sticking his cism about the mythology surrounding his fam- Martha's Vineyard. head out the car window all the time," says ily, yet with his natural passion, daring and sryle, 'When he effortlessly seemed to embody it. the = single-engine Piper Saratoga that he was piloting E plunged into the waters off Martha's Vineyard on the night of July 16, killing Kennedy, 38, his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy 33, and her sis- ter Lauren Bessette, 34, it seemed impossible a that life lived so vibrantly could so suddenly end. Across the nation, indeed around the world, stricken citizens anxiously monitored the del- uge of television, radio and print coverage of the tragedy. On vacation in the italian Alps, Pope John Paul II sent word he was saying a prayer for the families. Kennedy had been flying to Martha's Vine- yard-about six miles off the coast of Cape Cod-nearly every weekend this summer, stay- ing with Carolyn at the 37 S-acre estate near Gay Head that he had inherited with his sister Car- 52 at2/ss PEoPLE qiF*&b Arrow Sandwich Company 0n July 20, JFK in Gay Head, where John Jr.'s sister Caroline frequently stopped for iuice and her husband, or water when exercising. Edwin Schlossberg, "It made this weird noise, return to their sum- like a flying lawn mower. mer h0me in But he really seemed excited Sagaponack, N.Y., about it, because he was al- after a somber ways in it." morning bike ride Kennedy and Bessette a day after their had earned a reputation for 13th wedding graciousness during their anniversary. stays on the Vineyard. The weekend before the crash the couple had stopped 'Wharf, by the a no-frills lt'rii':.f seafood restaurant in Edgar- town. Around midnight Sat- oline Kennedy Schlossberg after their mother urday, they had driven to the scruffy Lampost mar- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's death in 1'994- bar in nearby Oak Bluffs for a round of Around the island, John, especially, was a fa- garitas with friends. When it came time to set- miliar figure, often Rollerblading or riding his tle the bill, the friends paid. Then, Bessette did bike along the narrow roads or cruising in his something that their waitress that night, Mered- beloved vintage Pontiac GTO convertible' About ith Katz, 20, a student at Tulane University, will three years ago he had bought his first aircraft, always remember. She discreetly took Katz aside a two-cylinder ultralight, essentially a seat with to make sure the tip was enough. Just to make propeller and wings attached, that startled his sure, Bessette gaveKatz another $15 or $20, say- neighbors. "They didn't know what it was," ing, "I know how expensive rents are here on says Brenda Hayden, manager of the Broken the island." PEoPLE azss 53 After his visit to Toronto the following Mon- Saratoga II ready for takeoff. day the rest of Kennedy's week was, typically, He was proud of the six- filled with work-and play. On Tuesday evening seater plane, which he had re- he dropped by an ad agency party in downtown cently bought secondhand for Manhattan, but stayed only half an hour. He an estimated $300,000. He apologized to his host that he was afraid of re- took off from runway 22 at injuring his ankle on the slippery floor. Two days 8:38, just after sunset, and later, he had lunch at the posh San Domenico headed northeast. At the restaurant, where he said hi to Diane Sawyer, time, an oppressive heat wave and reportedly worked out for two hours at a had left skies so hazy that one Manhattan gym, broken ankle and all. That pilot at Essex airport had night he took in a Yankees game with three scrubbed his own plans to fly friends. to the Vineyard. Kennedy, Friday morning, Kennedy kept a doctorb ap- who had logged about 300 pointment at Lenox Hill Hospital, which may hours aloft, was authorized have been for a checkup on his ankle. Around to pilot a plane only under vi- 6 p.m. he headed for Essex County Airport in sual flight rules, meaning that northern NewJersey, where he would meet Car- visibility had to be greater olyn and Lauren to fly to Massachusetts. The than three miles so he would plan was to deliver Lauren to Martha's Vine- not have to rely on instru- yard, then continue on with a short hop to ments. That evening, visibil- Hyannis, on the Cape. John and Carolyn would ity was somewhere between be attending the wedding of his cousin Rory four and five miles-above Kennedy, 30, a documentary filmmaker who is the visual flight rules mini- Bobby and Ethel's youngest child, to Mark Bai- mum but hardly ideal flying ley, 30, a writer who also works in film. conditions. Lorenzo believes It is not entirely clear how Carolyn felt about Kennedy had logged more her husband's piloting. According to some re- than half of the roughly 50 hours of flight time Days before the ac- ports, she had been known to drive between he needed to achieve his instrument rating, cident, John told an New York and Massachusetts rather than fly which would have allowed him to fly in bad acquaintance that with him. Jackie biographer C. David Heymann weather, relying on gauges in the plane to nav- he and Carolyn (with says John told him in the week before the crash, igate and maneuver. sister Lauren Bes- "Nobody likes flying with me, including my Kennedy may or may not have been pushing sette, left, recently wife. I'm no Charles Lindbergh." Last year the envelope when he took off so late on a nearly in NewYork City) he told USA Today, "The only person I've been moonless night for a flight over water, where might leave Man- able to get to go up with me-who looks for- the horizon disappears and even a highly skilled hattan when they ward to it as much as I do-is my wife." pilot may have difficulty judging a plane's di- had children. In any case, Kennedy and his passengers ar- rection and altitude. He certainly had the kind of rived at the New Jersey airport on Friday be- confidence that borders on daring. He enjoyed hind schedule, delayed by heavy traffic out of paragliding, ocean kayaking and ice climbing, New York City. Kennedy, after buying a ba- and during a recent visit to Rapid CitS S.Dak., nana and a bottle of water for a snack at a lo- he had even sought permission (unsuccessfully) cal gas-station store, pulled into the airport in a to rappel down the face of Mount Rushmore. white convertible around B p.-., dressed casu- But around the Essex airport he was known as ally in a white tank top and still limping; Car- a prudent flier. Charter pilot Ethan Bagg says olyn, wearing a black summer suit, came by Kennedy often had him fly him to Martha's means of a car service shortly afterward. (It is Vineyard when weather conditions were iffy. unclear when Lauren, an investment banker, "He was smart enough to know his limitations," arrived.) Kennedy had switched his base of op- says Bagg. "He has lost a son," erations to Essex airport from nearby Teterboro On Friday night, Kennedy apparently took says columnist airport, which has a celebrity clientele including the usual route to the Vineyard, hugging the Mike Barnicle of Harrison Ford, Bill Cosby and John Travolta, Connecticut coastline at 5,600 feet before head- Ted Kennedy (tak- because he preferred the laid-back atmosphere. ing out in the vicinity of Block Island to cross ing nephew John "He was just one of the guyS," says Larry 40 miles of ocean to his destination. He did not Jr. and his wife, Lorenzo, owner of the Caldwell Flight Acad- contact any of the control towers along the way Carolyn, for a sail emy. "FIe'd hang out like everybody else and to get weather updates, and at 9:39 a blip on on Thanksgiving talk about flying." the radar screen, later determined to be weekend 1997 in Kennedy immediately started getting his Piper Kennedyb plane, began to lose altitude quickly, Hyannisport).