1999 Martha's Vineyard plane crash

On July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. died when the light aircraft he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Kennedy's wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, were also on board and died. The Piper Saratoga departed from New Jersey's Essex County Airport; 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 (NTSB) concluded that Kennedy fell victim to spatial disorientation while descending over water at night and lost control of his plane. Kennedy did not hold an instrument rating and therefore he was only certified to fly under visual flight rules (VFR). At the time of Kennedy's death, the weather and light conditions were such that all basic landmarks were obscured, making visual flight challenging, although legally still permissible.