Stop leaving yourself vulnerable to data breaches! Go to my sponsor aura.com/pilotdebrief to get a 14-day free trial and see if any of your data has been exposed. Here's a few facts I didn't include in the video: - John had to repeat a lesson during instrument training four times, but that lesson was about VORs and NDBs and had nothing to do with the reason why he crashed - nothing else in his training history suggested he was below average or a reckless pilot - Shortly after takeoff on that fateful flight, John almost ran into an American Airlines flight that was on approach to the Westchester County airport. John wasn’t talking to Air Traffic Control and the American Airlines crew had to maneuver to avoid the collision. The controller wasn’t able to get ahold of John and the truth is that if John had requested VFR flight following, he would have received traffic advisories and most likely avoided this, but he also would have had a controller to talk to throughout the flight that could have provided him with weather advisories and perhaps prevented this tragedy. - Ultimately, I think he just became too complacent, having flown the route numerous times and he overestimated his skill level in the aircraft and didn't realize how dangerous the situation was. CHECK OUT ONE OF THESE OTHER CELEBRITY PLANE CRASHES Buddy Holly's plane crash 👉ua-cam.com/video/QQFO6isorFg/v-deo.html Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane crash 👉ua-cam.com/video/chMcJoUNQX0/v-deo.html Kobe Bryant's helicopter crash 👉ua-cam.com/video/1WiFqu8i7PI/v-deo.html
@@ImBlackjackYo I'm just guessing but it's probably the money taxpayers supplied to recover his aircraft to silence the conspiracy theorists. If you or I wrecked out there it would have been "ho, hum, wgasa?"
Someone (lk9650) just wrote that every plane crash is caused by swiss cheese. I know, it sounds cheesy, but as a swiss citizen I agree. Question for Hoover and the NTSB: A small cheese has a hundred holes. A big cheese has a thousand holes. Does that mean more cheese results in ... less cheese? Regards from Switzerland. RS
Same here. And Blancolirio too. I think part of my interest is the continual emphasis on planning, preparation and awareness…. which are important life skills not just for aviation.
Wise choice to not become a pilot. Becoming a pilot is for those who think owning a boat won't run them broke quickly enough. It's not just the expense of buying, maintaining, insuring and operating a plane (or renting and operating). A co-worker of mine has his pilot's license and just because of that his health insurance is higher.
I began learning to fly at the tender age of 17 in Waukegan, IL. My uncle who was a WWII flight instructor and also began his time at the Academy at the age of 17. My uncle gave me some of the best advice and wisdom of my life. He told me there are two rules a pilot must always follow with out exception (in the civilian non war time) he told me rule #1 “you never have to take off” rule #2 “you always have to land” of course when I was 17 I did not truly understand or appreciate the wisdom of his words. My uncle stopped flying at the age of 87 he told me he was getting too old and he was losing some of his skills! Ha, 87 years old! My uncle, who was my father’s best friend, died at the age of 93 a few days before his 94th birthday. I would truly understand the wisdom of his words much later in life. My uncle’s words remain with me to this day. I loved my uncle and he was a rare pilot who lived a long life following those two rules. He started flying in open cockpit biplanes in 1938. He flew many different aircraft in an incredible time in aviation. He owned and flew a Pitts S2 when he lived in Puerto Rico. He raced against Jimmy Doolittle in high speed aircraft. He was close friends with many greats in the flying world like Max Conrad, Art Scholl and Jimmy Doolittle. My uncle was a graduate of the Peruvian Air Force Academy and graduated first in class in 1943. My uncle came to the United States and could only act as an instructor to military pilot trainees because Peru was neutral during WWII. He would have an ace for sure if he could have joined the fight. In his memory and with great love and respect…
I will always remember JFK Jr. as the little boy standing next to Jackie Kennedy saluting his father's casket as it went by on the street. It is a heart wrenching scene.
As a non-native English speaker, I love your channel because you have a pleasant voice and speak very clearly. This is good training for me. Thanks for that. Warm greetings from southern Germany.
@anttiluode2985 Don't worry about the hecklers, keep on working on your English. Truth be told, many whose first language is English can't speak or spell correctly. Lol such as myself. 🫂 🤗
Around the time this happened a magazine reporter went up in an airplane with somebody at night over the ocean the reporter was told to close his eyes for a period of time and when he opened his eyes his attention was directed at a white dot outside the window and asked to identify it he said it was a star, the pilot said no it's a boat in the ocean we're headed directly for the sea, the reporter couldn't even feel that they were going down this was done to demonstrate why it is important to be type rated for night flying and how easy it is to get disoriented.
there's no type rating for night flying but it is extremely easy to get disoriented if you're flying over featureless/unlit terrain or large bodies of water
I was in London, on a sunny morning, and walking past a van, I saw a man holding a newspaper with the headline JFK JR DEAD. I had awful flashback to Nov 22, 1963. Quite a shock!
As a retired airline pilot with thousands of hours of night flying over open ocean, I thank you for this. I truly believe this type of flying should be ifr because even on a clear night there is often no outside reference to the horizon...just black. No discernable height above terrain in a descent etc... also, many thanks for dispelling the kooky rumors.
Hoover, I was hoping you would cover this one. I lived across the hall from John in boarding school and it was painful to watch how emotionally challenging it was to live his life. Thanks for not filtering your perspective on safety issues yet doing it with compassion.
@@mowtivatedmechanic1172 Thank you to the OP for your comments, (I can't post a comment under their name). I think John must have felt pressured or felt duty-bound for most of his life to enter politics, even by his own family despite I think he really just wanted to follow his passion for acting and there was nothing wrong w/that. He didn't choose to be born into the family he was and he didn't crave the spotlight that was directed at him 24/7, all his life. John was a kind man (and the most handsomest man on the planet).☺💓 RIP John and Carolyn and Lauren. 🌹❤
@EverettLHill,,This video is complete misinformation, and propaganda, from this guy, who sounds like an extremely violent, left-wing extremist, and sounds like he voted for Hillary Clinton. The Clinton's have 100's of deaths, on their conscience, and it HAS been proven. Hillary was competing for Senator, in New York, so was Kenndy, and as usual, Hillary, had him, taken out, like 100's of other people. Don't believe this clown
Great debrief. One element that deserves more emphasis IMO is how quickly things went wrong at the end. From wings level at 2500 to impact was just 34 seconds.
If sea is a mirror.. ok that’s maybe tricky or bad curse.. BUT every pilot would constantly and always stare at the altimeter, no ??? It’s the most important thing while flying. Nah, it’s strange coincidence and looks like sabotage to me.
@@kreterakete he didn't need to look at his altimeter, he needed to look at his attitude indicator and or bank indicator. Only staring at the altimeter is exactly what caused him to pull back on the yoke and tighten the spiral.....did you watch the video?
@@kreterakete I survived a graveyard spiral over the Sierras when I was 20 on a cross country flight from CA to Utah... got into a cloud layer sitting on top the ridge, with a base about 500 feet above the peaks. I had just read a book on mountain flying and I did not want to try flying under the clouds because of the potential for mountain wave. It is the most helpless feeling when you are spatially disoriented. You don't want to believe your instruments.... which for me my attitude indicator was showing a diving left turn when I could swear I was straight and level. You don't want to believe your instruments!! Had that diving left turn not taken me out of the clouds I would have bought the farm like 90% of VFR pilots that get themselves into that situation. Lesson (painfully) learned.
@@Phoenixx5115 You describe it very well. I experienced a similar situation when I was a military pilot at about the 700-800 hour point on a VFR flight, of course fully instrument rated. It was a flight in VFR conditions when we encountered a scud layer we attempted to stay below. I did not get an instrument scan going quickly enough and experienced exactly what you did - I did not want to believe the instruments and couldn't bring myself to trust them. Fortunately, I had a copilot with me at the time who took control. Otherwise it probably would have been lights out as there wasn't much altitude to recover. All that military training, including with vertigo and spacial disorientation, and it still took me by surprise. That was about 45 years ago. I continued flying since and never had a similar incident. I learned my lesson.
Almost all of my night time was in Hueys in the Army with another pilot. Later i flew Ag and pipeline patrol in airplanes with little night time. I consider night to be IFR and two pilot. I know many Freight Dogs and such are very comfortable single pilot at night, but they have instrument (and now all those computers) situational awareness. It is scary out there at night guys/gals.
Given proper decision making and planned correctly to minimize risk, flying at night isn’t much more dangerous than flying during the day. I’d suggest conducting night flights IFR or at minimum plan and fly the VFR flight precisely and use an instrument procedure to get you to the runway threshold. Night is no time for sloppy flying. That being said don’t risk stack. Night is one reasonable additional risk. Don’t add bad weather with icing risk or flying over mountains, fatigue etc.
I was air assault in the Army. Thank you for getting me n my squad in and out safely. 🙏 I had a Walkman playing Metallica on my headphones on some of my night flights and remember the static from the helicopters rotors lighting up under the rotors, that was always trippy to me, how it couldn't be seen from the enemy on the ground...
@@utah20gflyer76Even though “night VFR” is LEGAL, doesn’t mean it’s PRUDENT! Personally, for me, at least, night flying is “strictly IFR”. Now, by that I don’t mean you have to file IFR and fly it as an IFR flight. *What I mean is,* the aircraft should be IFR certified, and the pilot should be instrument rated *_and current!_* In other words, _treat the flight as if it were an IFR flight, keep tabs on the instruments and be ready to use them if push comes to shove!_ And most importantly use all the resources available to you! If the aircraft has an autopilot, USE IT!
John's mother Jacqueline Onassis did not want him poloting planes. She believed he was accident prone, absent-minded, clumsy and had ADHD, a learning disorder. Her stepson was killed in a plane crash in which he was the co-pilot in 1973. She had a premonition of disaster if John became a pilot. She remarked about his pursuing high risk activities with too much "hubris."
Good video and I agree with everything said. I can add a bit of detail. I was an instructor at the time and happened to do a live FAA Flight instructor Refresher Clinic shortly after the crash. The guy leading it was one of the accident investigators who was in the hanger where the plane had been moved and partially reassembled. He said on hitting the water, the three-blade prop bent back and wrapped around the cowling! Think about that for a minute. One of the blades sheared off the tops of all three cylinders on one side of the engine. They hit at something like 300 knots which is some 100 knots above Vne for that aircraft. I am left to image the howling sound they must have heard near the end. In regards to what he saw inside the cockpit, he said, "You don't want to know" and none of us pushed him on that point. Just imagine your wind-screen coming in at you at 300 knots. That's 100% indication of a death spiral. Spins are very exciting and lethal, but the descent rate (70- or 80 knots?) is nothing compared to a spiral which is a high speed event. An experienced pilot friend of mine and I decided to explore spirals at the time. They don't have you practice recovering from those for a good reason: you may not be able to! The rapid increase in G's was scary! We could easily image how encountering a spiral in the dark would be a very bad scene. Your airspeed is building rapidly, the altimeter is unwinding, so you pull... and it gets worse! Poof! Mind blown.
sure.... but this thing had a an autpilot. surely he had enough experience to know that once things started getting dark with decreasing visibility, he could just turn the autopilot on and descend to a safe altitude and then shoot the final. Many people think there is much more to this story than "pilot failure".... cuz of who he is.....
“Just because it’s legal, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea” should be the motto of Part 91, written in large glowing letters across the dash of every high performance low hours twin. Thank you for your excellent analysis and I’m glad you are starting to pick up some sponsor money.
But there was circumstantial ‘high strangeness’ involved. JFK Jr. was reported to have flown with a CFI when at night or when carrying passengers in the new plane. Clinton Bill was PotUS and JFK,, Jr had only recently declared that he’d seek a recently vacated NY State Senatorship. It ended upon being the SAME position that HRC eventually filled. George W. Bush was also in Kennebunkport or Martha’s Vinyard area at the time. 16:07 Other anomalies: No Flight Following, no records of en route comm’s, nor CTAF comm’s at destination, however there was at least 1 individual who came forward stating that he heard JFK, JR’s Reg. # in CTAF call outs at Martha’s. The USCG was not called out to search for the crash until the following morning and the USN was service that eventually dove on the wreckage & bodies. MISSING from the recovered wreckage?: The RIGHT SEAT of the Aircraft’s ELT. Yes, JFK, Jr. was P.I.C. He could have and should have cancelled that flight and gone over the next morning, or charted a commercial flight. Still, the circumstances around the crash and subsequent evens are suspicious. Keep in mind that every Presidentt since Nixon has claimed they would FOIA all docs related to JFK’s murder, but none ever has. The Magazine was called ‘George’ for a reason, and if anyone would have released the information to the public, it would have been JFK, Jr. ( or perhaps RFK, Jr., but his campaign was too easily scuttled.
John's mother was NOT in favor of his flying & being a pilot. Jacqueline begged John to give up his idea of flying, and he didn't actively pursue it until she died. So sad!
He was completely reckless and killed those women and himself. And Kennedy goons in the media spread the lie that they left late because Carolyn arrived to the airport late when in fact, HE left the office 3 hours later than planned and she arrived two minutes after him after he told he he was running late. Just tragic for everyone. The lives of the Bessette family were ruined and the Kennedy family has never been the same.
This broke my heart. I will always think of him as that little boy, saluting his father's coffin, in his little suit. Poor sweet little boy. Gone far too soon. He had so much life yet to live. ❤ 🙏
He was known to care about the less fortunate people in society, not just the wealthy and famous. He had a good heart. As a student pilot at the time, who was actually taking lessons (at Teterboro Airport) that very afternoon (the haziest day of the summer), I had no idea he was even a pilot. When I heard of the crash, I was devastated as well. Continuing my flight training was rough after that day, but I finished up and earned my PPL in Oct. Over the years, his accident has served as a valuable lesson for me in my flying passion! RIP to him and his passengers 🙏🏾
Once you panic your brain basically shuts off when you need it most and that makes you panic even more. He forgot his basic training.... turn on the auto pilot call ATC say Mayday I'm in trouble. No shame live to fight another day. I bet all his CFI's through out his flying gave him that extra heart to heart talk. Great video another excellent Hoover training.
This crash, and John Denver's, were the "water cooler" stories at our local FBO. Lots of conjecture, which mostly turned out to be correct, unfortunately.
The tragedy of John Kennedy, Jr. remains one of the most haunting events. I worked near the airport where Kennedy hangered his plane. After the tragic accident the pilots at that facility stated that they weren't surprised about the accident; JFK's own mother, Jacqueline, made her son promise that he would never fly a plane. He did just that after his mother passed away. John Jr.'s own wife expressed to a sales clerk, when she went shopping for the wedding they were to attend, that she was fearful of flying with her husband at the controls.
A pilot friend of mine was flying VFR in the same area that evening, and noted the visibility issues. He also reported a slanting cloud layer that offered a false clue as to the true horizon: this twice had him making an involuntary turn before he figured out to disregard it and consult the artificial horizon. He believes this phenomenon contributed to the crash.
False horizons can create very powerful illusions, especially when other clues are missing. They're common near water, where lights on one side of a shore (lake, river, ocean) will create a false horizon, and they can be shockingly powerful. Instrument experience can help a lot, but isn't a guarantee against getting fooled, and it may take some time to realize what's going on.
I met Ms Lauren Bessette in Hong Kong when I was a mid career LT in the USN, attached to CV62, we had a 1 week port call in Hoing Kong in 1997 right before the handover of Hong Kong. One of my Navy friends on the ship had a friend who lived in HK and he invited a group of his friends from the Morgan Stanley office there out to the Bull and Bear bar and grill, Lauren was part of the group. She and I were sitting next to each other and we struck up a nice conversation and she told me to look her up in the states since I was transferring back to the states after promotion to LCDR and she told me she was heading back to the states. We spoke on the phone once in 1998 but our busy careers on opposite coasts did not allow us to plan anything. I was gutted when she was killed. I think of her a lot, such a smart woman. As for John Junior I will not put how I feel about him in these comments.
We know how you feel. The Kennedys ruin more lives than they help. My brother was one of the few Army helicopter pilots rated for naval operations. That was when the US Navy was guarding the oil tankers against the Iranian bass boat attacks. He told me how confusing and disorienting it is to fly at dusk over the water. The humidity and the late afternoon create a bowl effect and you lose awareness of your horizon. The horizon disappears and there are no lights to give one an awareness of how high you are flying.
I remember when this happened. I had just gotten my instrument rating. I had a really good flight instructor. He could do a really fine job of inducing spatial disorientation and the airplane might or might not be in a good flight attitude. Look up and recover. With two passengers in the plane, one or both would be sitting behind him. A quick glance back, or down at a map and no visual cues outside, to me, this one screams spatial disorientation.
Hoover didn’t clearly emphasize just how quickly things went bad. JFK Jr. was flying wings level at 2500 feet when he entered the graveyard spiral. He hit the water about 34 seconds later, likely never even fully realized he was in trouble
Do you have a ball on a string (or some equivalent) to let you know which way is up? I've seen this before but I don't know if it's something that works or an old wives' tale.
@@stevenaughton9372 No, it doesn’t work. The string will show the apparent motion. Only gyroscopically stable instruments can maintain accurate measurements
@@terrymaggio2520 It is thrown in the direction of acceleration. You can see it in your car if you have something hanging from the mirror. When you turn, it swings to the direction your body is pushed - to the outside of the turn. In JFK Jr’s death spiral it would be pointing directly at the floor, not towards the earth. Only a gyroscope maintains position relative to the earth regardless of acceleration. But, to your point, analog backups are a very important redundancy. Electronics are great but if they fail a mechanical device that doesn’t require electricity is literally a lifesaver.
@@adriaba790 I mean, they could have. Flying is just the most convenient. And I get it, once the plane is loaded up, unloading it and either going in the morning or, if they insisted on leaving that night, finding someone to drive them is very inconvenient and since he did that flight 35 times before, he probably never imagined there would be issues.
Could have hopped in the car and driven to Falmouth/Woods Hole and taken a ferry or other boat over to the island. Considering the amount of time it takes to get a private plane ready and to get everyone to the airport, I don't think a trip by land/boat would have taken that much longer than a flight.
For convenience. For example, I live in South Texas. In the RGV. I know some who have private planes and they fly about 150 miles north to the next city. That usually takes about 1 hours from take off to landing but if you take a car ride from the city to the same city, it's about 1 hours and 40 mins, almost 2 hours if take breaks and if you miss a turn
I have flown to Block Island, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket many times. Fog comes in quickly on those islands. No VFR only pilot should make that trip at night. Night flying over the ocean should be considered conditions regardless of the weather. I have also flown the Cherokee 6. That is a lot of plane for a low time pilot. A lot of holes in that Swiss cheese!
100%. I'll never understand why the FAA lets amateur pilots fly at night & over water without any instrument rating. How can you fly VFR on a cloudy and / or hazey night with no moonlight over open water. It's incredibly difficult to make out the horizon in those conditions, and while flying VFR, *the horizon is the most important thing*
@@JayGoTexas I've been boating at night on a large lake with a moon and with no moon. With a moon it's a piece of cake. You can see very good. With no moon? It is actually scary. It's scary because you cant see if there is any land there because it is all the same color - black. I can't image what it would be like in a plane under those circumstances and with his experience level.
@@bobsbillets It is eerie with overcast on a lake at night without any lights. There is quit a difference in a plane. All the obstacles are not at the exact same level. John had enough experience to know he was turning and descending - let go and the plane would level out. Why didn't he have the autopilot on?
My uncle was in charge of the Kennedy compound he was killed? And the found a a extra seat miles away sharks don't eat seats he was killed he was a shoe in to be president which was his plan! Guess who he would have run against killory!!!
Flying with family or other guest is dangerous by nature. They talk to you, asking questions, they distract you at the moment you have to concentrate and have to do complex tasks. They reduce your span of controle and you can't let them shut up. It's a major factor in private flying accidents.
Really excellent point. Cheers form the UK where we get lots of murky weather, and the sensible non professional pilots don’t fly. As one of his instructors said, find the money for an airline ticket of professional pilot.
@@fredvp I once drove two neighbor children to an event. After a few minutes I commented on how quiet they were. The girl said "We're not allowed to talk in the car." Never heard that before but it's probably an excellent rule.
A friend of mine was part of the search team that went looking for, and later found, pieces of the wreckage. He said it was a foggy and misty night and was shocked that a GA pilot would fly solo over the water and away from the coast that night.
In those last few minutes, the situation in that cabin must have been horrific. The women screaming knowing they were about to die and Kennedy frozen at the controls his mind a blank.
I'm a retired Airbus Captain (30 yrs USAir/American) with 18,400 TT (3000 Single Engine, 100? in the saratoga/lance type plane) ..... THE NIGHT JFK JR. DIED July 16, 1999 I was a first officer flying a Boeing 737 into Boston that night. I had regular schedule of flying into Boston for a lng layover once a week, and from Boston the next night to Miami for another long layover. This particular night was so memorable because JFK Jr’s private plane was missing, attempting to fly at night, single pilot, single engine (nice plane), into Martha’s Island for a family function, a wedding I think?. The descent into Boston I commented to the other pilot how murky and eerie it was, no lights what so ever. Boston was reporting overcast, 4 miles, visibility, approaches to Rsy 27 and 31 were in use. 27 and 31 are runway headings, based on the 360 degree compass rose, to the nearest 10 degree mark. 27 = 270 degrees, 31 = 310 degrees, and when you had parallel runways, and extra letter for Left, Center, Right were used, so 32L, 32R etc. ATC kept asking us slow down, and “can you see the airport yet?” When we couldn’t see it he turned us away and sequenced for an Instrument approach, and he was frustrated. Visibility was no longer 4 miles. We made the approach and landing without incident. The hotel was a 5 star, and the whole crew went to the same hotel (later years we, the pilots, were no longer staying with the flight attendants). John Kennedy, a private pilot with NO instrument rating and only a few hundred hours, bought a very night complex expensive airplane. Complex means big engine, adjustable propeller, retractable gear. He usually had a flight instructor with him as a safety pilot but not this night. His instructor offered but JFK declined, probably didn’t want to inconvenience the kid with a long weekend, housing may have been an issue too. I believe he got disoriented while flying, it’s easy to lose your situational awareness at night, no lights outside, it’s called VERTIGO. It can lead into a loss of control of the airplane. It did. It sounds like he rolled upside down in a steep turn with the left wind striking the ocean first, crushing the roof of the plane. It sank in 120 feet of water. They didn’t find the plane for 4 days.
On that night in 1999 I was flying as Captain in a US Airways Exp Beech 1900 commuter. I made two round trips ALB-BOS. Both approaches in Boston Logan airport required an ILS to get in. I can only imagine the lack of ground lights and being over water must have been disorienting for a non-instrument rated private pilot.
A few sources have said he carried a half bottle of white wine onto his last flight, so l wouldn't be surprised, but of course no toxicology results were published.
I guess the toxicology report was clean but as a recovering alcoholic and drug addict was multiple years sober and clean both alcohol and painkillers take away your inhibitions and make things less fearful that should be fearful Hope that makes sense😢😢
As a Swiss native, I have to correct that just a few sorts of cheese in Switzerland actually have holes. The most prominent one is the Emmentaler that is prominent for its huge holes. Fun fact is that it's a dry and rather grainy and tasteless cheese and therefore not really a well sold cheese in our country. Most cheese don't have holes at all or just a few small ones - nothing that makes our cheese different in appearance from any others in the world.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that Jackie was extremely opposed to JFK Jr.'s flight training, so he gave it up and then started again after she passed away. Apparently quite a number of Kennedys and Bouviers had already died in small plane crashes.
This is the Mt Everest of all plane crash stories, glad to see you tackling it, I learned from another excellent video on this crash that John's flight instructor had offered to go with him on this flight and he refused the offer. After your thorough layout of his limited experience flying this plane at night solo, refusing the instructor's offer was crucial. It was also reported that other private pilots had canceled their scheduled flights in this region that night due to the weather conditions. The real sad part of this story is that this guy had mega resources to simply charter a flight or to higher a pilot to fly his plane for him. This is a classic case of get-there-idis, and a man's ego that won't accept his own limitations.
Yep, he kept imagining himself standing around the wedding party, drink in hand, bragging to all the others what a cool guy he is, and saying, YOU SHOULD SEE MY COOL NEW PLANE.
The question is Why did the instructor offer to go with him? Perhaps he had some concerns about John's ability to pilot that night, with a healing ankle, darkness, etc. So sad for the instructor.
Thanks to the OP for the video. So many years ago I was flying a same make and model and if I recall same auto pilot / Flight Director. Early in this video you mentioned that the subject auto pilot had an anomaly where it wasn't holding the selected heading. The following is a POSSIBLE source of the problem JFK jr. might have experienced. Admittedly I am not a Avionics tech but a end user who does the requisite training. That being said, one evening, flying a rented Saratoga I was IMC from the Bahamas back to Fl., At 8000' I noticed the turn and bank indicated that we were in a turn, even though the attitude indicator and HSI were in the desired position with the auto pilot on. As I transitioned out of one cloud to another, in clear air even though it was close to dark, I got the sense that we were not straight and level but in a slight skidding turn. Now in that particular airplane the Vacuum gauge was in the far right corner of the instrument panel well out of sight of a normal six pack scan. Out of the corner of my eye I caught the "little" vacuum fail light on the gauge. I then focused on the overhead compass (I know who does that in a airplane with $100,000.00 worth of avionics) and caught the heading disparity between the HSI compass and the overhead compass. With that I clicked off the auto pilot and flew basic, needle-ball-airspeed-altimeter and yes turn and bank. When I disconnected the auto pilot the Attitude indicator and the heading compass on the HSI went into multiple failure mode. As was described to me by a avionics guru, in that particular airplane, the auto pilot commanded the Attitude Indicator and HSI Compass to remain in the selected position (straight and level on heading) even while the plane it's self is following the slowly degrading output due to the vacuum failure or in other words a un-comanded turn. As was pointed out in the video, flight out over the open ocean at night even in good weather is basically ZERO ZERO when it comes to visual flight cues. To this day I don't know if that airplane was wired wrong or there is a design flaw in the A/P interface but encourage anyone who has a GA airplane and they fly IMC to test your aircraft for this anomaly. Practice Partial Panel, Practice Partial Panel, Practice Partial Panel, ... Include that vacuum gauge in your scan..! If your lucky enough to get recurrent in a simulator ask the instructor at some point, without warning, to fail the vacuum system when the A/P is on. I guarantee it's training you will be thankful to get. Since those early days and many, many equipment failures in between, I have been blessed to pursue a aviation career including everything from GA, sport aerobatics, military transport type airplanes (C130) and airliners. I used to devour all the flying related stories I could get me eyes on to learn as much as possible, as I think most pilots who have a passion for the nuances of flying, do. Hopefully relaying my experience will save somebody from a unfortunate undesirable outcome. (HEADS UP TO ALL OWNERS of LIGHT Aircraft, if vacuum gauge isn't close to the 10:30-1:30 position have it moved to a primary scan location.
You’ve been benevolent to describe all the reasons why the odds were against him, Lauren was the unsuspecting victim. Was in New Orleans when then president Clinton ordered the coast guard, navy to search for the missing Saratoga. Bottom line simulator instrument time is close to worthless, he was a low time non instrument rated pilot unfamiliar with a high performance single engine aircraft. The pressure from Caroline and the wedding in addition to his own personal shortcomings made him believe he could make the trip at night safely.
I'll disagree with your statement that flight sim time is worthless. You don't understand the prominent reason for sim training. It isn't to teach you how to fly the airplane. Its purpose is to teach you instrument procedures and it happens to be a better "classroom" to learn procedures in since you don't have the additional challenge of flying the airplane at the same time. You can then take the procedural knowledge to the airplane and fly with less stress. Started my career in aviation selling flight simulators to major airlines and flight schools. Still flying 47 years later and still using the training I got all those years ago. They do have additional purpose as well. You can fly repeated approaches as needed, position the 'aircraft' anywhere along the approach, pause the flight for analysis, etc. Saves a lot of time vs going to the airport and being sequenced in for only one or two approaches if the airport can accommodate you. And you can create any number of scenarios to add workload; weather, mechanical and electrical failures, fuel management, flight planning, radio failures, etc. I got my instrument rating in 1980 and I fly almost all my VFR flights on an instrument flight plan for several reasons but largely because it becomes second nature. I also have an approved sim at home that I train with regularly to stay proficient. I can fly upcoming trips in advance as well.
Simulators are generally more difficult to fly than real aircraft, the huge difference being you don't die in one. Simulator time is very valuable, and very useful - they'll kick your ass and you can be mentally drained when you get out of one. And the airplane will seem easy in comparison.
Not watching the video....simple. Didn't have what it takes to fly hard IFR, and the govt and all the simp supporters wasted a few years trying to deflect the root cause away from the revered Kennedy. There, no video needed.
There was no eyewitness, no blackbox and no radar, how do we know about his maneuvers and turns before the crash? A faulty autopilot can cause the type of crash as well. We also should not forget that the same people who killed his father and uncle would want him dead as well.
I was flying the day this happened for the Civil Air Patrol doing Chesapeake Bay Patrol in coordination with the Coast Guard. We flew low and slow (800 Ft 90 kts) to look for boaters in distress. We circled the bay and cut across mid-bay at its widest point from east to west. The whole east coast of the US was in the grips of a summer heat wave and was very hot and hazy. As I crossed to the west coast, I lost the horizon. I had to fly for a few minutes on instruments. After I heard of the crash, I assumed he went over the water to get to the island and lost the horizon and shore. I guessed he thought he was heading out to sea thinking he he missed the island and tried to get back to the shore. The turns disoriented him and he entered a death spiral.
Most of my flying experience was on the shore of Lake Huron .In the summer, on hot, hazy days, you could easily lose the horizon . At night or dusk , I would use the VASI and ILS even when the airport was solidly VFR. It wasn't hard to figure out what happened to John Kennedy.
Inadvertent flight into IMC is fairly common and your odds of surviving it depends on how well you use your instruments. If you are always in the mindset of IFR, nothing can faze you. VFR at night should just simply be illegal.
There was no eyewitness, no blackbox and no radar, how do we know about his maneuvers and turns before the crash? A faulty autopilot can cause the type of crash as well. We also should not forget that the same people who killed his father and uncle would want him dead as well.
Hoover I just joined your channel because I respect your knowledge and I find so much wisdom from you that I can apply to my every day life to be safer!! Thank you Hoover.
Great analysis Hoover! My points: Night VFR is great in theory but can easily be fatal in practice. I have about 8k military & airline night hours, out of 20k total & I find straight night flight in my Bonanza in VMC sobering. No horizon on a moonless night away from city lights is not for the faint hearted! Use the Autopilot to reduce workload not as a crutch. Know & fly the required attitude for the phase of flight. Stay current!
I remember when the news was still just reporting the plane as lost. It seemed so unreal that they were missing and most likely deceased. He was described as being a genuine and caring person, and she was a beautiful young woman who had so charisma and style. It’s sad that so little is known about Lauren. May they all rest in peace.
Indeed he was. He was known to care about the less fortunate people in society, not just the wealthy and famous. He had a good heart. As a student pilot at the time, who was actually taking lessons (at Teterboro Airport) that very afternoon (the haziest day of the summer), I had no idea he was even a pilot. When I heard of the crash, I was devastated as well. Continuing my flight training was rough after that day, but I finished up and earned my PPL in Oct. Over the years, his accident has served as a valuable lesson for me in my flying passion! RIP to him and his passengers 🙏🏾
I can imagine, once you get spatially disoriented, things can spiral out of control very quickly... even if after a few seconds you realize what's going on, it might just be too late to recover. Don't underestimate the risk of this
Over confidence is what kills a pilot too. I am so keen for Pilot Debrief to make an episode on the plane crash of one of the most successful cinema composers, James Horner - what happened to him? I was so distraught when he died because his music was beautiful and intense such as Aliens, Titanic, Avatar, Braveheart etc.
@@bigwaidave4865 I lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts for 10 years where the perfect storm was filmed if that is your reference. :-) Another tragedy drowning, no funner than crashing a plane and I am a licensed boat captain. Seen it.
I trained in El Paso, Tx in the 70’s. Flying at night in the desert with city lights rare because of distances in Texas was very disorienting. Similar to flying over the ocean as sky and ground blend together.
Flying at night in a single engine aircraft especially 1990’s technology was a risk. Engine failures/instrument failures more common. Lots of crashes around Mt Franklin in El Paso with night flying and IMC.
My dad was a private pilot and I flew with him often in my early teens and frequently we landed at Block Island, Barnstable, Marthas Vinyard and Nantucket. I distinctly remember him saying to always expect a haze to blanket the Cape & Islands as it got later as this happened many times even when not forecasted. Also, when he went from a Cheroke to a Mooney, he said it required much more vigilance + selectivity in where he would land as this was a much more aggressive airplane. With my p 16:07 ilot license lacking opinion, if l did make this trip I would have followed coast line with visual, landed at Barnstable for the night (sleeping at their compound in Hyannis), got up very early and flown the sister to the Vinyard in daylight. Gotten back b4 everyone was even awake and joined in with wedding festivities. This is from an unlicensed novice going solely upon my father's fear of night haze on Cape & Islands obscuring visibility. If I could figure this out- why couldn't he, or one of the sisters?????
@@TheApacheTrail A friend, not short of money, just sold Dallas Doll P51, sold business few years ago, just bought new home, retirement just about to get pension..his Cub nose dive after take off killing him. Funeral few weeks..
@@TheApacheTrail Not the aircraft it's the attitude of the pilot. Some wealthy are risk takers, reason why they are wealthy. Unfortunately being risky in aviation gets you killed.
In all of the Kennedy "curse" cases, outside of Teddy's incident, it has now been determined that the CIA played a role in them. Both JFK and RFK were inside jobs involving players that these two would not play along with. The two were known enemies of the Military Industrial Complex/Deep State that Eisenhower warned Americans about in his primetime televised farewell speech. At the time of his death, John Jr. was running for the NY Senate seat against Hilary Clinton. That said, we all know now that the CIA and FBI covered for her while she was committing her coverup crimes while she was in the Secretary of State office. That's not a conspiracy theory...that's a fact! Based on all of these people's and organizations' track records that are now all coming to light, I am not convinced that this plane wasn't sabotaged from the start, with a cover up ensuing. Prove me wrong!
Last night I was awoken by a severe cramp in my right foot. When I got out of bed, i could barely put any weight on it. Until last night, I had no idea how debilitating that could be. I wonder if he had some kind of episode on his foot.
@gregfaris6959 Why the negativity? Isn't the point of these debriefs the hindsight perspective? So that others may avoid making the same mistakes? And when someone identifies red flags, isn't that a lesson learned and "mission accomplished" for Hoover? 🤔
As one mother told me shortly after the crash "I'm glad that his mother had already passed away for it would have surely killed her to have her only son die". They have a profound history of tragedy.
Big ego, hot plane, bad weather, ignored the changing conditions, marital troubles, deadline to get there, late take off. None of this says it’s going to go well.
not to mention the fact that he had to live with the fact that his father died like he did. But that's a whole nother story and we all know who was involved. Such a shame and a lot for a young man to handle.
I’m glad this was an accurate presentation.. I have read so many conspiracy theorie about this … he simply got in over his head.. which is so easy to do.. I’m private pilot flying a longez and never play with the weather…
My son, 27, began private flight training yesterday. Among other things, we talk about you. If a genie out of a magic lamp gave me only one wish for my son, and for wherever his flying may take him, I would wish that he becomes a Hoover-type airman. Much respect, sir.
Amazing debrief! As one of the divers who had to recover the Plane and three bodies it’s always good to hear why the plane ended up at the bottom of the ocean. What we found down there could only be described as a head on collision with the water.
A small comment that JFK, Jr. was not President Kennedy's only son. He had a son named Patrick who, unfortunately, died 2 days after his birth in 1963. I would not mention this, but it was a shock that really affected both him and Jackie. He's buried next to his father in Arlington.
Hi Hoover…may I suggest that you investigate the fatal plane crash of another scion of a famous American family? Richard Rockefeller (great grandson of John D. Rockefeller) died about ten years ago when he took off in bad weather, failed to gain altitude, and crashed into some trees. He was in his sixties and a much more experienced pilot than JFK Jr, but in addition to being a Rockefeller he was also a doctor - a double dose of arrogance. I went to school with the guy and he was so full of himself even as a teenager that frankly I’m amazed that he managed to fly for forty-odd years before digging himself a hole in the ground.
He was a reckless person. Even flying with a broken leg. Plus his wife was angry and she was in a salon, changing her nail polish. She refused to be rushed. That’s why they were so late. They got caught up in the traffic as well. His mother was completely against him flying a plane. That’s why he waited until Jackie died to obtain his license, buy a plane, etc..
John acted irresponsibly-but I think in his arrogance he thought he could handle it. From what I’ve read he was a risk taker like some of his family members. That’s fine but not when you’re carrying 2 passengers.
All 3 are still with us..had to fake their death..just like MJackson..Elvis..and 900 others faked death..matter of time before the world knows..although millions & millions know this..only if one has been looking for info.. Another part of this crazy world right now
All his instructors indicate he was conservative in decision-making. It is far more likely he did not fully appreciate the risks that were present, and the expectations of his two passengers outweighed his own better judgement.
Yet another example of a pilot not being clear headed about what "failure" means in this context. He wasn't just risking an "oh darn" situation, and a good mantra would be "our lives are on the line, should I risk them?"
I'm a pilot, nowhere near as good as most. Learning every day. Flying at night is a whole other beast. I'm certified for night and take it very seriously. Sad this happen. I remember in my training when my instructor placed my hood on so not to see my panel. Did a few maneuvers and then took the hood of to recover. 100% I was in level flight. Not even close!!! Learned a lot that night.!!! For those that don't fly, so hard to believe that your body sometimes cannot tell you're in a decent and banked!! Would never of believed it myself if it wasn't for the training that night.
Spatial D is similar to pregnancy. You can talk about it and explain it all day, but unless you've experienced it, you have no idea what it's like, lol.
😅Fuel imbalance could have been a contributing factor. In the PA32 the outboard tank would be used first causing a massive imbalance. The King autopilot would have held the wings level but upon disconnecting said autopilot it would be near impossible to keep to wing level at night in low visibility with no horizon line. His prior aircraft was a C182 which is normally flown with the fuel selector in the both position keeping the wings level. If he didn’t remember to switch tanks spatial disorientation would be probable. In VFR day I’ve found it almost impossible to keep the wings level in such an imbalanced State without the use of an autopilot.
Yep, I’ve often commented (very sarcastically) how comforting it is to know that if one of my flights ever goes missing that half of the U.S. Navy will be sent to look for me. What a crock of crap. It’s sad that his poor decision making led to this accident, but but the people I feel sorry for are the ladies and their families - not a trust fund kid who overestimated his abilities.
There was another factor if you read the book Ask Not by Maureen Callahan about the Kennedys. John was a thrill seeker who had a LONG history of reckless "adventures" that almost got him (and the women he was with) killed.
I was flying that Night. I left Nantucket just after dark heading West towards KISP . It Was A Clear Dark Night and I was flying a Dassault Falcon900 EX . I left the owner & his wife on KACK and flew back to Islip MacArthur Airport got into my car and drove home. The next morning when I turned on the TV I was STUNNED.
Did you encounter the haze that I and so many others experienced that day? I was on a training flight with my CFI during the afternoon, out of KTEB. The haze that particular day was the worst I'd seen all summer. I couldn't tell from the ground how bad it was until we were up in it. I had no idea JFK Jr. was a pilot and we frequented KCDW (and KMMU) regularly to practice landings. T&Gs were prohibited at KTEB, due to the heavy corporate jet traffic. Like you, I was stunned when I heard the news the next day!
I loved night flying as a VFR pilot with an instrument rating. But I have turned around at night more than a few times because of low visibility. Night and questionable weather is a recipe for disaster, especially for a low time pilot.
When I got my cast off, my foot and ankle muscles were so weak I could barely move my foot. I was shocked by the de-conditioning. I needed to get strong through Physical therapy. He apparently thought his foot was fine to fly, but I wonder.
I experience the same thing after a knee surgery in 2018 but also if he was on painkillers which would lower his inhibitions and take his pain away that would understand a little bit more of why he decided to do this flight as I'm a recovering alcoholic and drug addict with multiple years sober
@@pamshewan9181 Maybe to bring to the reception? There’s not much time to drink while flying; hope he didn’t indulge while waiting for the ladies and doing the pre-flight.
Great Video. As you had mentioned in a past video about the Nelons and the Bramlage families, though the high performance complicated plane you are flying can be flown with a single pilot, it might be a good idea if you can have a second pilot fly with you to cover some of the workload. In John Junior’s case his ego may have gotten the best of him to show the women he can handle the plane without any help.
Keep in mind that what started out as a flight into dusk conditions turned into a full-blown night flight. The offer of a second pilot was likely made when the original flight plan was in play and the decision to rethink the offer fell back in the clutter of his decision process. A new plane, flight at night, delay after delay in getting off the ground, the pressure of promising to drop off the sister and make it to the wedding... I don't think ego was a primary factor in this tragedy. Knowing when to pull the plug on making a flight can be difficult. This is why pilots create a conditional checklist that takes all these factors into consideration and tosses a red flag when different conditions are met.
Also, if you’re a private pilot, and you can’t reconcile decreasing altitude with your attitude indicator and your turn indicator, you should not be flying as PIC.
@@pilot-debrief Well, one thing I learned was due to viewer comments. I had always figured that it was a light haze that was increasing, and visibility was about nil. Comments here from several pilots who were in the area that day indicate it was the worst haze of the year. Wow.
I've said it before, but I'm saying it again, the most dangerous period for a pilot is between 250 and 1,000 hours of flight time. You've gained confidence but often that confidence exceeds actual ability especially when conditions are not nominal. John didn't know where he was and he didn't know what his aircraft was doing. I doubt he ever knew he was in a bank. Dirty artificial horizon and never thought to look at his bank angle indicator.
I was pounding 135 freight at the time of this incident flying twin Cessnas. My thoughts at the time were very low time pilot, new hot rod airplane, and I just knew that spacial disorientation had got him. I have only experienced that one time in my 22,830 hour career and it had just happened to me about three months prior to this incident. I literally had to force myself to fly the instruments for about 30 seconds until it cleared. That “feeling” goes totally against everything that you’re seeing on the gauges and you do have to “force yourself” to not to give in to it.
In 1973, Alexander Onassis, son of Aristotle Onassis died in a controversial light plane crash at the age of 24. Ari was married to Jackie at the time and she saw how he was impacted by the death of his only son which led to his own death only 2 yrs later. So yes, out of respect for his mother, Jr. mostly complied with her desire that he not fly light planes. Looks like her concern was warranted.
There's a reason that a commercial pilot without a instrument rating cannot fly over 50 miles from the home airport or fly at night. As a commercial pilot you have shown skills above that of a private pilot and yet they don't want you to go over 50 miles since you are more likely to encounter weather or at night where you can have this scenario. Even scattered clouds at night can be a killer. If you can't see them you can't avoid them. Any pilot without a instrument rating or not able to bring their A game with a instrument rating should think really hard about flying cross country at night. The FAA gives us a lot of freedom as pilots and it is up to us to make sure we fly responsibly. Before I got my instrument rating I was flying from Laughlin to Palm Springs at night. I did everything I could to make sure that the ceiling was high enough that it wouldn't be a factor. I had preplanned that if anything seem weird that I would immediately turn back and land. As we flew along there was a very high stratus ceiling. As we were getting close to Palm Springs my passenger said that it was raining. I looked to the wingtip and in the strobes I could see the rain. I immediately turned off the strobes and said to her, "No, it's not!" I made sure that there could be no distractions and I kept my eyes glued to the Artificial Horizon, altimeter, turn and bank, Directional Gyro, and airspeed! Until I could see the lights of Palm Springs that instrument panel was my world!
A commercial pilot can fly as far as they want or anytime day or night. However, they can NOT fly for HIRE at night or greater than 50 miles from the home airport. FAA is protecting paying passengers and property, not the pilot.
@@skyboy1956 Well, I guess that would go without saying. I don't think that any of us would take a written, pay for instruction, pay for a check ride, just so we would then be limited to 50 miles and then not be able to fly at night. Duh! My point is the FAA is saying that these things increase the risk and we don't want a pilot, who has just demonstrated a increased skill, to expose paying passengers to it. And I am saying that if the FAA is saying that these are higher risk then we as pilots should consider that too. Yes, you are free to go out and kill yourself. Heck, you can kill your passengers, too. If they are willing to get in a plane with you. But, as I said before, a responsible pilot should understand that these things increase the risk and shouldn't be taken lightly.
@@libertine5606 Commercial certificate w/ no instrument rating is in nearly every ag pilot's pocket. Here's a kicker to that. I know ag pilots that spray at night. So they operate for hire at night. Some do have an instrument rating, but the plane is not equipped for instrument flight. Those regs are violated daily yet the FAA won't touch it.
Hoover. Great job as always. I was on cruise in the Gulf when it happened. All of us immediately said spatial disorientation. Keep up the great work brother. Chef USN Ret
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Here's a few facts I didn't include in the video:
- John had to repeat a lesson during instrument training four times, but that lesson was about VORs and NDBs and had nothing to do with the reason why he crashed
- nothing else in his training history suggested he was below average or a reckless pilot
- Shortly after takeoff on that fateful flight, John almost ran into an American Airlines flight that was on approach to the Westchester County airport. John wasn’t talking to Air Traffic Control and the American Airlines crew had to maneuver to avoid the collision. The controller wasn’t able to get ahold of John and the truth is that if John had requested VFR flight following, he would have received traffic advisories and most likely avoided this, but he also would have had a controller to talk to throughout the flight that could have provided him with weather advisories and perhaps prevented this tragedy.
- Ultimately, I think he just became too complacent, having flown the route numerous times and he overestimated his skill level in the aircraft and didn't realize how dangerous the situation was.
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Thank you!
@@ImBlackjackYo I'm just guessing but it's probably the money taxpayers supplied to recover his aircraft to silence the conspiracy theorists. If you or I wrecked out there it would have been "ho, hum, wgasa?"
@@ImBlackjackYoBecause he didn't? Braindead.
Someone (lk9650) just wrote that every plane crash is caused by swiss cheese.
I know, it sounds cheesy, but as a swiss citizen I agree.
Question for Hoover and the NTSB: A small cheese has a hundred holes. A big cheese has a thousand holes. Does that mean more cheese results in ... less cheese?
Regards from Switzerland. RS
Well , thank you for not profiling his sister and her kids as stock crashing, inbred,&azzclowns. Great video.
I’m not a pilot and have no aspirations to become a pilot. But I find these debriefings fascinating and very informative.
Same here. And Blancolirio too. I think part of my interest is the continual emphasis on planning, preparation and awareness…. which are important life skills not just for aviation.
Wise choice to not become a pilot. Becoming a pilot is for those who think owning a boat won't run them broke quickly enough. It's not just the expense of buying, maintaining, insuring and operating a plane (or renting and operating). A co-worker of mine has his pilot's license and just because of that his health insurance is higher.
He is still alive
Ditto
After seeing this channel, i feel the same way. Have always been fascinated with Airplanes and flight.
" Just cause something is legal, doesn't mean it's a good idea." Great words. Thanks.
I began learning to fly at the tender age of 17 in Waukegan, IL. My uncle who was a WWII flight instructor and also began his time at the Academy at the age of 17. My uncle gave me some of the best advice and wisdom of my life. He told me there are two rules a pilot must always follow with out exception (in the civilian non war time) he told me rule #1 “you never have to take off” rule #2 “you always have to land” of course when I was 17 I did not truly understand or appreciate the wisdom of his words. My uncle stopped flying at the age of 87 he told me he was getting too old and he was losing some of his skills! Ha, 87 years old! My uncle, who was my father’s best friend, died at the age of 93 a few days before his 94th birthday. I would truly understand the wisdom of his words much later in life. My uncle’s words remain with me to this day. I loved my uncle and he was a rare pilot who lived a long life following those two rules. He started flying in open cockpit biplanes in 1938. He flew many different aircraft in an incredible time in aviation. He owned and flew a Pitts S2 when he lived in Puerto Rico. He raced against Jimmy Doolittle in high speed aircraft. He was close friends with many greats in the flying world like Max Conrad, Art Scholl and Jimmy Doolittle. My uncle was a graduate of the Peruvian Air Force Academy and graduated first in class in 1943. My uncle came to the United States and could only act as an instructor to military pilot trainees because Peru was neutral during WWII. He would have an ace for sure if he could have joined the fight. In his memory and with great love and respect…
You were fortunate to have such a great uncle.
I love your Uncle's statement. "You never have to take off. You always have to land."
Awesome story!
Amazing guy your “tio”.
Saludos desde Mexico.
@@CHICOB4261 very moving. Thank u for sharing. AirHugs to you, always.
I love history from the ppl who were there. Thanks for sharing his story
I will always remember JFK Jr. as the little boy standing next to Jackie Kennedy saluting his father's casket as it went by on the street. It is a heart wrenching scene.
I was nine years old when JFK died. My family watched TV all of the weekend. It is still so sad that both JFK and his son are gone.
As a non-native English speaker, I love your channel because you have a pleasant voice and speak very clearly.
This is good training for me.
Thanks for that.
Warm greetings from southern Germany.
Guten tag !
He sounds like his mouth is full of mush
You would probably like Mentour Pilot although he covers mostly commercial airline incidents.
@@almorris171 thanks i follow him already :)
@theschmonkiboy: You speak English very well for us to understand you. Danke!
He stopped flying because his mother was terrified of him dying in a plane crash. Only after she died did he pick it up again.
That’s so sad…. 😢
The fact that an instructor offered to go with him that night and he rejected the offer is the truly sad part.
He had promised Jackie that he would not pilot a small plane.
Growing up I learned to ALWAYS consider my mom's intuition. More often than not it was right. 🤷♂
That fits with the timing.
I'm not even aviation enthuastic, but I like watching these videos for some reason. It's still interesting to me. Keep up the good work!
same
You might then be an aviation enthusiast
@@1bradpickett no need to make fun of my bad english. :(
Thanks, will do!
@anttiluode2985 Don't worry about the hecklers, keep on working on your English. Truth be told, many whose first language is English can't speak or spell correctly. Lol such as myself. 🫂 🤗
Around the time this happened a magazine reporter went up in an airplane with somebody at night over the ocean the reporter was told to close his eyes for a period of time and when he opened his eyes his attention was directed at a white dot outside the window and asked to identify it he said it was a star, the pilot said no it's a boat in the ocean we're headed directly for the sea, the reporter couldn't even feel that they were going down this was done to demonstrate why it is important to be type rated for night flying and how easy it is to get disoriented.
@tamasbodnar1729 Very interesting! Thanks for posting it!
Baloney i there is no rating for flying at night , you have to have some night time to get your private ticket
there's no type rating for night flying but it is extremely easy to get disoriented if you're flying over featureless/unlit terrain or large bodies of water
When there is no clear horizon, night flying needs to be instrument flying.
Dang, i better start studying for my night type rating. Can't seem to find any flight schools that offer it, though. I'll ask the local fsdo.
I was in London, on a sunny morning, and walking past a van, I saw a man holding a newspaper with the headline JFK JR DEAD. I had awful flashback to Nov 22, 1963. Quite a shock!
As a retired airline pilot with thousands of hours of night flying over open ocean, I thank you for this. I truly believe this type of flying should be ifr because even on a clear night there is often no outside reference to the horizon...just black. No discernable height above terrain in a descent etc... also, many thanks for dispelling the kooky rumors.
Agreed, but unfortunately, the kooks keep coming 😂
Hoover, I was hoping you would cover this one. I lived across the hall from John in boarding school and it was painful to watch how emotionally challenging it was to live his life. Thanks for not filtering your perspective on safety issues yet doing it with compassion.
Emotionally Challenging? Could you expand on that? (Genuine question)
@@mowtivatedmechanic1172 Thank you to the OP for your comments, (I can't post a comment under their name).
I think John must have felt pressured or felt duty-bound for most of his life to enter politics, even by his own family despite I think he really just wanted to follow his passion for acting and there was nothing wrong w/that.
He didn't choose to be born into the family he was and he didn't crave the spotlight that was directed at him 24/7, all his life. John was a kind man (and the most handsomest man on the planet).☺💓
RIP John and Carolyn and Lauren. 🌹❤
@EverettLHill,,This video is complete misinformation, and propaganda, from this guy, who sounds like an extremely violent, left-wing extremist, and sounds like he voted for Hillary Clinton. The Clinton's have 100's of deaths, on their conscience, and it HAS been proven. Hillary was competing for Senator, in New York, so was Kenndy, and as usual, Hillary, had him, taken out, like 100's of other people. Don't believe this clown
@@isabellindlind You think you think etc. So in a nutshell....you don't know anything factually at all.
@@Salutimondo I don't give a HOOT what you think.
Great debrief. One element that deserves more emphasis IMO is how quickly things went wrong at the end. From wings level at 2500 to impact was just 34 seconds.
This always seems forgotten. Quite a few crashes go from "still normal" to "all dead" in less than a minute.
If sea is a mirror.. ok that’s maybe tricky or bad curse.. BUT every pilot would constantly and always stare at the altimeter, no ??? It’s the most important thing while flying.
Nah, it’s strange coincidence and looks like sabotage to me.
@@kreterakete he didn't need to look at his altimeter, he needed to look at his attitude indicator and or bank indicator. Only staring at the altimeter is exactly what caused him to pull back on the yoke and tighten the spiral.....did you watch the video?
@@kreterakete I survived a graveyard spiral over the Sierras when I was 20 on a cross country flight from CA to Utah... got into a cloud layer sitting on top the ridge, with a base about 500 feet above the peaks. I had just read a book on mountain flying and I did not want to try flying under the clouds because of the potential for mountain wave. It is the most helpless feeling when you are spatially disoriented. You don't want to believe your instruments.... which for me my attitude indicator was showing a diving left turn when I could swear I was straight and level. You don't want to believe your instruments!! Had that diving left turn not taken me out of the clouds I would have bought the farm like 90% of VFR pilots that get themselves into that situation. Lesson (painfully) learned.
@@Phoenixx5115 You describe it very well. I experienced a similar situation when I was a military pilot at about the 700-800 hour point on a VFR flight, of course fully instrument rated. It was a flight in VFR conditions when we encountered a scud layer we attempted to stay below. I did not get an instrument scan going quickly enough and experienced exactly what you did - I did not want to believe the instruments and couldn't bring myself to trust them. Fortunately, I had a copilot with me at the time who took control. Otherwise it probably would have been lights out as there wasn't much altitude to recover. All that military training, including with vertigo and spacial disorientation, and it still took me by surprise.
That was about 45 years ago. I continued flying since and never had a similar incident. I learned my lesson.
Almost all of my night time was in Hueys in the Army with another pilot. Later i flew Ag and pipeline patrol in airplanes with little night time. I consider night to be IFR and two pilot. I know many Freight Dogs and such are very comfortable single pilot at night, but they have instrument (and now all those computers) situational awareness. It is scary out there at night guys/gals.
@shayjohnson5830 not according Dan Gryders figures on GA . Last two years have sightly improved.
Given proper decision making and planned correctly to minimize risk, flying at night isn’t much more dangerous than flying during the day. I’d suggest conducting night flights IFR or at minimum plan and fly the VFR flight precisely and use an instrument procedure to get you to the runway threshold. Night is no time for sloppy flying.
That being said don’t risk stack. Night is one reasonable additional risk. Don’t add bad weather with icing risk or flying over mountains, fatigue etc.
I was air assault in the Army. Thank you for getting me n my squad in and out safely. 🙏 I had a Walkman playing Metallica on my headphones on some of my night flights and remember the static from the helicopters rotors lighting up under the rotors, that was always trippy to me, how it couldn't be seen from the enemy on the ground...
@@utah20gflyer76Even though “night VFR” is LEGAL, doesn’t mean it’s PRUDENT! Personally, for me, at least, night flying is “strictly IFR”.
Now, by that I don’t mean you have to file IFR and fly it as an IFR flight. *What I mean is,* the aircraft should be IFR certified, and the pilot should be instrument rated *_and current!_* In other words, _treat the flight as if it were an IFR flight, keep tabs on the instruments and be ready to use them if push comes to shove!_
And most importantly use all the resources available to you! If the aircraft has an autopilot, USE IT!
I hated night maneuvers. Back then no automated system just pilot skills.
John's mother Jacqueline Onassis did not want him poloting planes. She believed he was accident prone, absent-minded, clumsy and had ADHD, a learning disorder. Her stepson was killed in a plane crash in which he was the co-pilot in 1973. She had a premonition of disaster if John became a pilot. She remarked about his pursuing high risk activities with too much "hubris."
Good video and I agree with everything said. I can add a bit of detail. I was an instructor at the time and happened to do a live FAA Flight instructor Refresher Clinic shortly after the crash. The guy leading it was one of the accident investigators who was in the hanger where the plane had been moved and partially reassembled. He said on hitting the water, the three-blade prop bent back and wrapped around the cowling! Think about that for a minute. One of the blades sheared off the tops of all three cylinders on one side of the engine.
They hit at something like 300 knots which is some 100 knots above Vne for that aircraft. I am left to image the howling sound they must have heard near the end. In regards to what he saw inside the cockpit, he said, "You don't want to know" and none of us pushed him on that point. Just imagine your wind-screen coming in at you at 300 knots.
That's 100% indication of a death spiral. Spins are very exciting and lethal, but the descent rate (70- or 80 knots?) is nothing compared to a spiral which is a high speed event.
An experienced pilot friend of mine and I decided to explore spirals at the time. They don't have you practice recovering from those for a good reason: you may not be able to! The rapid increase in G's was scary! We could easily image how encountering a spiral in the dark would be a very bad scene. Your airspeed is building rapidly, the altimeter is unwinding, so you pull... and it gets worse! Poof! Mind blown.
sure.... but this thing had a an autpilot. surely he had enough experience to know that once things started getting dark with decreasing visibility, he could just turn the autopilot on and descend to a safe altitude and then shoot the final. Many people think there is much more to this story than "pilot failure".... cuz of who he is.....
“Just because it’s legal, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea” should be the motto of Part 91, written in large glowing letters across the dash of every high performance low hours twin. Thank you for your excellent analysis and I’m glad you are starting to pick up some sponsor money.
But there was circumstantial ‘high strangeness’ involved. JFK Jr. was reported to have flown with a CFI when at night or when carrying passengers in the new plane. Clinton Bill was PotUS and JFK,, Jr had only recently declared that he’d seek a recently vacated NY State Senatorship. It ended upon being the SAME position that HRC eventually filled. George W. Bush was also in Kennebunkport or Martha’s Vinyard area at the time. 16:07 Other anomalies: No Flight Following, no records of en route comm’s, nor CTAF comm’s at destination, however there was at least 1 individual who came forward stating that he heard JFK, JR’s Reg. # in CTAF call outs at Martha’s. The USCG was not called out to search for the crash until the following morning and the USN was service that eventually dove on the wreckage & bodies. MISSING from the recovered wreckage?: The RIGHT SEAT of the Aircraft’s ELT. Yes, JFK, Jr. was P.I.C. He could have and should have cancelled that flight and gone over the next morning, or charted a commercial flight. Still, the circumstances around the crash and subsequent evens are suspicious. Keep in mind that every Presidentt since Nixon has claimed they would FOIA all docs related to JFK’s murder, but none ever has. The Magazine was called ‘George’ for a reason, and if anyone would have released the information to the public, it would have been JFK, Jr. ( or perhaps RFK, Jr., but his campaign was too easily scuttled.
"... twin ..." ?
@@berniemccann8935 Complex high-performance two-engine aircraft that wealthy low-hours pilots love.
@@Ficon A twin is not necessarily complex or high performance, and as @berniemccan correctly indicated, the aircraft in question was not one
@@gregfaris6959 I’m aware. More as a general comment than Part 91 is a zoo.
John's mother was NOT in favor of his flying & being a pilot. Jacqueline begged John to give up his idea of flying, and he didn't actively pursue it until she died. So sad!
He was completely reckless and killed those women and himself. And Kennedy goons in the media spread the lie that they left late because Carolyn arrived to the airport late when in fact, HE left the office 3 hours later than planned and she arrived two minutes after him after he told he he was running late.
Just tragic for everyone. The lives of the Bessette family were ruined and the Kennedy family has never been the same.
She knew her son was a handsome dunce.
Its one of those things. Maybe she just knew that it wasn't a good idea for him. People just know things sometimes.
I have this heaven scenario where he pops up in front of his mom there 4 years later.
"Look, mom...uhh...."
@@jimjam51075 She 'probably said "If you listened to me, you wouldn't be here" LOL!
I’ve always found this case fascinating. Thanks for the in depth analysis and explanation. I appreciate your content.
This broke my heart. I will always think of him as that little boy, saluting his father's coffin, in his little suit. Poor sweet little boy. Gone far too soon. He had so much life yet to live. ❤ 🙏
He was known to care about the less fortunate people in society, not just the wealthy and famous. He had a good heart. As a student pilot at the time, who was actually taking lessons (at Teterboro Airport) that very afternoon (the haziest day of the summer), I had no idea he was even a pilot. When I heard of the crash, I was devastated as well. Continuing my flight training was rough after that day, but I finished up and earned my PPL in Oct.
Over the years, his accident has served as a valuable lesson for me in my flying passion! RIP to him and his passengers 🙏🏾
It's hard to beat the Kennedy curse.
Once you panic your brain basically shuts off when you need it most and that makes you panic even more. He forgot his basic training.... turn on the auto pilot call ATC say Mayday I'm in trouble.
No shame live to fight another day. I bet all his CFI's through out his flying gave him that extra heart to heart talk. Great video another excellent Hoover training.
They discovered that he was one digit off when trying to radio and was probably panicking as to why he couldn't get through.
This crash, and John Denver's, were the "water cooler" stories at our local FBO. Lots of conjecture, which mostly turned out to be correct, unfortunately.
As the winner of the Dead Pool on Howard Stern who won 2 YEARS IN A ROW said! "I bet on dumb guys with pilot's licenses".
The tragedy of John Kennedy, Jr. remains one of the most haunting events. I worked near the airport where Kennedy hangered his plane. After the tragic accident the pilots at that facility stated that they weren't surprised about the accident; JFK's own mother, Jacqueline, made her son promise that he would never fly a plane. He did just that after his mother passed away. John Jr.'s own wife expressed to a sales clerk, when she went shopping for the wedding they were to attend, that she was fearful of flying with her husband at the controls.
@@Prefabfan-q2q John Denver was dumb?
@@Alsatiagent-zu1rx
No, you know he wasn't. How many of these stories include excellent pilots.
@@anitasmith4559 Why did no one listen to their instincts? Was it their adventurous personalities, or were they just too dumb to be properly scared?
A pilot friend of mine was flying VFR in the same area that evening, and noted the visibility issues. He also reported a slanting cloud layer that offered a false clue as to the true horizon: this twice had him making an involuntary turn before he figured out to disregard it and consult the artificial horizon. He believes this phenomenon contributed to the crash.
Interesting. And adding in possibly being momentarily distracted by a misdialed frequency.
@@Larry-mk9ry Yes. Neither of them seemed to be acting themselves and the unfortunate sister along for the ride, trying to provide support.
First I've heard about that out of all the research I've read about this crash. . And sounds reasonable too. 👍
False horizons can create very powerful illusions, especially when other clues are missing. They're common near water, where lights on one side of a shore (lake, river, ocean) will create a false horizon, and they can be shockingly powerful. Instrument experience can help a lot, but isn't a guarantee against getting fooled, and it may take some time to realize what's going on.
I sure wouldn't go flying with your friend; that may include just taxing around.
Another good debrief Hoover. You gave more information about him that I had never heard. Still, another unnecessary accident.
@KansasWheatFarmer2 Hmm... death ray from aliens , a dark matter shooter or Diddy had a party in the back seats which distracted JFK
@KansasWheatFarmer2. There are no coincidences.
@KansasWheatFarmer2 That's funny
@@gregjohnson2073what's funny?
@KansasWheatFarmer2Oh, please. That's ridiculous.
Your attention to detail is commendable. A very well researched and presented episode. Well,done.
I met Ms Lauren Bessette in Hong Kong when I was a mid career LT in the USN, attached to CV62, we had a 1 week port call in Hoing Kong in 1997 right before the handover of Hong Kong. One of my Navy friends on the ship had a friend who lived in HK and he invited a group of his friends from the Morgan Stanley office there out to the Bull and Bear bar and grill, Lauren was part of the group. She and I were sitting next to each other and we struck up a nice conversation and she told me to look her up in the states since I was transferring back to the states after promotion to LCDR and she told me she was heading back to the states. We spoke on the phone once in 1998 but our busy careers on opposite coasts did not allow us to plan anything. I was gutted when she was killed. I think of her a lot, such a smart woman. As for John Junior I will not put how I feel about him in these comments.
We know how you feel. The Kennedys ruin more lives than they help. My brother was one of the few Army helicopter pilots rated for naval operations. That was when the US Navy was guarding the oil tankers against the Iranian bass boat attacks. He told me how confusing and disorienting it is to fly at dusk over the water. The humidity and the late afternoon create a bowl effect and you lose awareness of your horizon. The horizon disappears and there are no lights to give one an awareness of how high you are flying.
I remember when this happened. I had just gotten my instrument rating. I had a really good flight instructor. He could do a really fine job of inducing spatial disorientation and the airplane might or might not be in a good flight attitude. Look up and recover. With two passengers in the plane, one or both would be sitting behind him. A quick glance back, or down at a map and no visual cues outside, to me, this one screams spatial disorientation.
Hoover didn’t clearly emphasize just how quickly things went bad. JFK Jr. was flying wings level at 2500 feet when he entered the graveyard spiral. He hit the water about 34 seconds later, likely never even fully realized he was in trouble
Do you have a ball on a string (or some equivalent) to let you know which way is up? I've seen this before but I don't know if it's something that works or an old wives' tale.
@@stevenaughton9372 No, it doesn’t work. The string will show the apparent motion. Only gyroscopically stable instruments can maintain accurate measurements
@@MrJeffcoley1 So gravity doesn't work? If you're flying sideways what does the ball do?
@@terrymaggio2520 It is thrown in the direction of acceleration. You can see it in your car if you have something hanging from the mirror. When you turn, it swings to the direction your body is pushed - to the outside of the turn. In JFK Jr’s death spiral it would be pointing directly at the floor, not towards the earth. Only a gyroscope maintains position relative to the earth regardless of acceleration.
But, to your point, analog backups are a very important redundancy. Electronics are great but if they fail a mechanical device that doesn’t require electricity is literally a lifesaver.
Thank you, Hoover, for another excellent post!!
Quick call. “It’s getting late now, let’s go out for dinner and leave in the morning “.
Yes
Couldn't because they had a wedding next day...could've hired a limo though😥
@@adriaba790 Unless the wedding was really early, couldn't they have still arrived before it?
Let’s not forget, his instructor offered to fly them out.
@@adriaba790 I mean, they could have. Flying is just the most convenient. And I get it, once the plane is loaded up, unloading it and either going in the morning or, if they insisted on leaving that night, finding someone to drive them is very inconvenient and since he did that flight 35 times before, he probably never imagined there would be issues.
Another meticulously researched and beautifully organized presentation, Hoover.
You are such a professional, and we learn so much from you. Thank you!
Could have hopped in the car and driven to Falmouth/Woods Hole and taken a ferry or other boat over to the island. Considering the amount of time it takes to get a private plane ready and to get everyone to the airport, I don't think a trip by land/boat would have taken that much longer than a flight.
?
True. But like any other pilot he needed the time and wanted the experience.
Also with the girls being late, he was most likely pissed off.
I would have rented a Cadillac and drove up the old Post Road to the highway along the coast... straight drive.
For convenience. For example, I live in South Texas. In the RGV. I know some who have private planes and they fly about 150 miles north to the next city. That usually takes about 1 hours from take off to landing but if you take a car ride from the city to the same city, it's about 1 hours and 40 mins, almost 2 hours if take breaks and if you miss a turn
Cuda, shuda, wuda😮
I have flown to Block Island, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket many times. Fog comes in quickly on those islands. No VFR only pilot should make that trip at night. Night flying over the ocean should be considered conditions regardless of the weather. I have also flown the Cherokee 6. That is a lot of plane for a low time pilot. A lot of holes in that Swiss cheese!
100%. I'll never understand why the FAA lets amateur pilots fly at night & over water without any instrument rating. How can you fly VFR on a cloudy and / or hazey night with no moonlight over open water. It's incredibly difficult to make out the horizon in those conditions, and while flying VFR, *the horizon is the most important thing*
@@JayGoTexas I've been boating at night on a large lake with a moon and with no moon. With a moon it's a piece of cake. You can see very good. With no moon? It is actually scary. It's scary because you cant see if there is any land there because it is all the same color - black. I can't image what it would be like in a plane under those circumstances and with his experience level.
Yup
@@bobsbillets It is eerie with overcast on a lake at night without any lights. There is quit a difference in a plane. All the obstacles are not at the exact same level. John had enough experience to know he was turning and descending - let go and the plane would level out. Why didn't he have the autopilot on?
My uncle was in charge of the Kennedy compound he was killed?
And the found a a extra seat miles away sharks don't eat seats he was killed he was a shoe in to be president which was his plan! Guess who he would have run against killory!!!
Flying with family or other guest is dangerous by nature. They talk to you, asking questions, they distract you at the moment you have to concentrate and have to do complex tasks. They reduce your span of controle and you can't let them shut up. It's a major factor in private flying accidents.
Really excellent point. Cheers form the UK where we get lots of murky weather, and the sensible non professional pilots don’t fly. As one of his instructors said, find the money for an airline ticket of professional pilot.
@@bayridge99 Hi, thanks for your response. Same here in The Netherlands for the murky weathers. IMC flying is difficult, even for trained pilots.
espeacially those high maintenance Blondes
I find even when talking in the car, my daughter distracts me and it is very annoying.
@@fredvp I once drove two neighbor children to an event. After a few minutes I commented on how quiet they were. The girl said "We're not allowed to talk in the car." Never heard that before but it's probably an excellent rule.
A friend of mine was part of the search team that went looking for, and later found, pieces of the wreckage. He said it was a foggy and misty night and was shocked that a GA pilot would fly solo over the water and away from the coast that night.
In those last few minutes, the situation in that cabin must have been horrific. The women screaming knowing they were about to die and Kennedy frozen at the controls his mind a blank.
How do you know that, especially the women screaming? How do you know they had any idea till the final seconds?
@@LionZebra I was watching.
@ Lol! It’s an animation! Are you still in 3rd grade or did you finally get to 4th?
@@LionZebra More like kindergarten. Or daycare.
I'm a retired Airbus Captain (30 yrs USAir/American) with 18,400 TT (3000 Single Engine, 100? in the saratoga/lance type plane) ..... THE NIGHT JFK JR. DIED
July 16, 1999 I was a first officer flying a Boeing 737 into Boston that night. I had regular schedule of flying into Boston for a lng layover once a week, and from Boston the next night to Miami for another long layover. This particular night was so memorable because JFK Jr’s private plane was missing, attempting to fly at night, single pilot, single engine (nice plane), into Martha’s Island for a family function, a wedding I think?.
The descent into Boston I commented to the other pilot how murky and eerie it was, no lights what so ever. Boston was reporting overcast, 4 miles, visibility, approaches to Rsy 27 and 31 were in use. 27 and 31 are runway headings, based on the 360 degree compass rose, to the nearest 10 degree mark. 27 = 270 degrees, 31 = 310 degrees, and when you had parallel runways, and extra letter for Left, Center, Right were used, so 32L, 32R etc. ATC kept asking us slow down, and “can you see the airport yet?” When we couldn’t see it he turned us away and sequenced for an Instrument approach, and he was frustrated. Visibility was no longer 4 miles. We made the approach and landing without incident. The hotel was a 5 star, and the whole crew went to the same hotel (later years we, the pilots, were no longer staying with the flight attendants).
John Kennedy, a private pilot with NO instrument rating and only a few hundred hours, bought a very night complex expensive airplane. Complex means big engine, adjustable propeller, retractable gear. He usually had a flight instructor with him as a safety pilot but not this night. His instructor offered but JFK declined, probably didn’t want to inconvenience the kid with a long weekend, housing may have been an issue too.
I believe he got disoriented while flying, it’s easy to lose your situational awareness at night, no lights outside, it’s called VERTIGO. It can lead into a loss of control of the airplane. It did. It sounds like he rolled upside down in a steep turn with the left wind striking the ocean first, crushing the roof of the plane. It sank in 120 feet of water. They didn’t find the plane for 4 days.
It was Rory Kennedy's wedding.
@@denisegore1884Never save money when there is an event,hire a pro to do jobs.
@gregoryknox4444 tell us more... it's really entertaining to read you!
you have never been an airline pilot
@@bellboy4074are you psychic 😮
On that night in 1999 I was flying as Captain in a US Airways Exp Beech 1900 commuter. I made two round trips ALB-BOS. Both approaches in Boston Logan airport required an ILS to get in. I can only imagine the lack of ground lights and being over water must have been disorienting for a non-instrument rated private pilot.
Did you see that yellow rust fog from mid west factories, that rolled into east coast?
There were much more experienced pilots than John saying they never would have made that trip that night.
Another thing worth talking about, with the injury to his left ankel, what about any pain killers he could have been taking?
Perhaps that and had he been drinking the night out with the boys? He could've felt terrible.
A few sources have said he carried a half bottle of white wine onto his last flight, so l wouldn't be surprised, but of course no toxicology results were published.
toxicology report is in the NTSB file. It's clean.
Could definitely have compromised judgment even if he wasn't physically impaired.
I guess the toxicology report was clean but as a recovering alcoholic and drug addict was multiple years sober and clean both alcohol and painkillers take away your inhibitions and make things less fearful that should be fearful Hope that makes sense😢😢
As a Swiss native, I have to correct that just a few sorts of cheese in Switzerland actually have holes. The most prominent one is the Emmentaler that is prominent for its huge holes. Fun fact is that it's a dry and rather grainy and tasteless cheese and therefore not really a well sold cheese in our country. Most cheese don't have holes at all or just a few small ones - nothing that makes our cheese different in appearance from any others in the world.
Wrong video! It’s not about cheese.
@@ruthnoronha8206 I believe in the cocktail chatter line it's called a conversational segue.
Your the first pilot that I have ctually heard say besides me “even though it’s legal some times it’s not the smartest thing to do” 11:08
I remember my Dad talking about the security when NTSB brought the engine into TEXTRON where he worked.
My cousin was a ma state trooper dive team member who was on the scene. He was ordered not to speak about the incident.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that Jackie was extremely opposed to JFK Jr.'s flight training, so he gave it up and then started again after she passed away. Apparently quite a number of Kennedys and Bouviers had already died in small plane crashes.
I hadn’t heard that about his training. That’s interesting and could very well be true.
@@pilot-debriefdying in a plane crash is rare.....well as Superman said about flying..."Statisticaly speaking it is still the safest way to travel"
If you want to read a crazy and tragic story look up the death of his uncle, Joe Jr. This alone may have been enough to make Jackie skeptical.
Yeah. That family does not have wonderful luck. Sad no matter your feelings on them tragic death not a good thing.
@@terraflow__bryanburdo4547 yeah that was my immediate thought too as far as the most famous Kennedy plane crash
This is the Mt Everest of all plane crash stories, glad to see you tackling it, I learned from another excellent video on this crash that John's flight instructor had offered to go with him on this flight and he refused the offer. After your thorough layout of his limited experience flying this plane at night solo, refusing the instructor's offer was crucial. It was also reported that other private pilots had canceled their scheduled flights in this region that night due to the weather conditions. The real sad part of this story is that this guy had mega resources to simply charter a flight or to higher a pilot to fly his plane for him. This is a classic case of get-there-idis, and a man's ego that won't accept his own limitations.
He flew that route so many times. He was not meant to survive that crash.
Yep, he kept imagining himself standing around the wedding party, drink in hand, bragging to all the others what a cool guy he is, and saying, YOU SHOULD SEE MY COOL NEW PLANE.
The question is Why did the instructor offer to go with him? Perhaps he had some concerns about John's ability to pilot that night, with a healing ankle, darkness, etc. So sad for the instructor.
🦘🇦🇺 Thanks Hoover. Another professional production. You set a high bar on such sensitive issues. 🛩️🙏
Thanks to the OP for the video.
So many years ago I was flying a same make and model and if I recall same auto pilot / Flight Director.
Early in this video you mentioned that the subject auto pilot had an anomaly where it wasn't holding the selected heading.
The following is a POSSIBLE source of the problem JFK jr. might have experienced.
Admittedly I am not a Avionics tech but a end user who does the requisite training.
That being said, one evening, flying a rented Saratoga I was IMC from the Bahamas back to Fl.,
At 8000' I noticed the turn and bank indicated that we were in a turn, even though the attitude indicator and HSI were in the desired position with the auto pilot on.
As I transitioned out of one cloud to another, in clear air even though it was close to dark, I got the sense that we were not straight and level but in a slight skidding turn.
Now in that particular airplane the Vacuum gauge was in the far right corner of the instrument panel well out of sight of a normal six pack scan.
Out of the corner of my eye I caught the "little" vacuum fail light on the gauge. I then focused on the overhead compass (I know who does that in a airplane with $100,000.00 worth of avionics) and caught the heading disparity between the HSI compass and the overhead compass.
With that I clicked off the auto pilot and flew basic, needle-ball-airspeed-altimeter and yes turn and bank.
When I disconnected the auto pilot the Attitude indicator and the heading compass on the HSI went into multiple failure mode.
As was described to me by a avionics guru, in that particular airplane, the auto pilot commanded the Attitude Indicator and HSI Compass to remain in the selected position (straight and level on heading) even while the plane it's self is following the slowly degrading output due to the vacuum failure or in other words a un-comanded turn.
As was pointed out in the video, flight out over the open ocean at night even in good weather is basically ZERO ZERO when it comes to visual flight cues.
To this day I don't know if that airplane was wired wrong or there is a design flaw in the A/P interface but encourage
anyone who has a GA airplane and they fly IMC to test your aircraft for this anomaly.
Practice Partial Panel, Practice Partial Panel, Practice Partial Panel, ... Include that vacuum gauge in your scan..!
If your lucky enough to get recurrent in a simulator ask the instructor at some point, without warning, to fail the vacuum system when the A/P is on.
I guarantee it's training you will be thankful to get.
Since those early days and many, many equipment failures in between, I have been blessed to pursue a aviation career including everything from GA, sport aerobatics, military transport type airplanes (C130) and airliners.
I used to devour all the flying related stories I could get me eyes on to learn as much as possible, as I think most pilots who have a passion for the nuances of flying, do. Hopefully relaying my experience will save somebody from a unfortunate undesirable outcome.
(HEADS UP TO ALL OWNERS of LIGHT Aircraft, if vacuum gauge isn't close to the 10:30-1:30 position
have it moved to a primary scan location.
You’ve been benevolent to describe all the reasons why the odds were against him, Lauren was the unsuspecting victim. Was in New Orleans when then president Clinton ordered the coast guard, navy to search for the missing Saratoga. Bottom line simulator instrument time is close to worthless, he was a low time non instrument rated pilot unfamiliar with a high performance single engine aircraft. The pressure from Caroline and the wedding in addition to his own personal shortcomings made him believe he could make the trip at night safely.
I'll disagree with your statement that flight sim time is worthless. You don't understand the prominent reason for sim training. It isn't to teach you how to fly the airplane. Its purpose is to teach you instrument procedures and it happens to be a better "classroom" to learn procedures in since you don't have the additional challenge of flying the airplane at the same time. You can then take the procedural knowledge to the airplane and fly with less stress. Started my career in aviation selling flight simulators to major airlines and flight schools. Still flying 47 years later and still using the training I got all those years ago. They do have additional purpose as well. You can fly repeated approaches as needed, position the 'aircraft' anywhere along the approach, pause the flight for analysis, etc. Saves a lot of time vs going to the airport and being sequenced in for only one or two approaches if the airport can accommodate you. And you can create any number of scenarios to add workload; weather, mechanical and electrical failures, fuel management, flight planning, radio failures, etc. I got my instrument rating in 1980 and I fly almost all my VFR flights on an instrument flight plan for several reasons but largely because it becomes second nature. I also have an approved sim at home that I train with regularly to stay proficient. I can fly upcoming trips in advance as well.
Simulators are generally more difficult to fly than real aircraft, the huge difference being you don't die in one. Simulator time is very valuable, and very useful - they'll kick your ass and you can be mentally drained when you get out of one. And the airplane will seem easy in comparison.
Not watching the video....simple. Didn't have what it takes to fly hard IFR, and the govt and all the simp supporters wasted a few years trying to deflect the root cause away from the revered Kennedy. There, no video needed.
There was no eyewitness, no blackbox and no radar, how do we know about his maneuvers and turns before the crash?
A faulty autopilot can cause the type of crash as well.
We also should not forget that the same people who killed his father and uncle would want him dead as well.
@@2whl4rethat there is exactly what sims are for.
I was flying the day this happened for the Civil Air Patrol doing Chesapeake Bay Patrol in coordination with the Coast Guard. We flew low and slow (800 Ft 90 kts) to look for boaters in distress. We circled the bay and cut across mid-bay at its widest point from east to west. The whole east coast of the US was in the grips of a summer heat wave and was very hot and hazy. As I crossed to the west coast, I lost the horizon. I had to fly for a few minutes on instruments. After I heard of the crash, I assumed he went over the water to get to the island and lost the horizon and shore. I guessed he thought he was heading out to sea thinking he he missed the island and tried to get back to the shore. The turns disoriented him and he entered a death spiral.
Most of my flying experience was on the shore of Lake Huron .In the summer, on hot, hazy days, you could easily lose the horizon . At night or dusk , I would use the VASI and ILS even when the airport was solidly VFR. It wasn't hard to figure out what happened to John Kennedy.
Been there scary
Inadvertent flight into IMC is fairly common and your odds of surviving it depends on how well you use your instruments. If you are always in the mindset of IFR, nothing can faze you. VFR at night should just simply be illegal.
@@Lurch-Bothow did he not notice his artificial horizon
There was no eyewitness, no blackbox and no radar, how do we know about his maneuvers and turns before the crash?
A faulty autopilot can cause the type of crash as well.
We also should not forget that the same people who killed his father and uncle would want him dead as well.
Hoover I just joined your channel because I respect your knowledge and I find so much wisdom from you that I can apply to my every day life to be safer!! Thank you Hoover.
Thank you so much! Welcome!
Great analysis Hoover! My points: Night VFR is great in theory but can easily be fatal in practice. I have about 8k military & airline night hours, out of 20k total & I find straight night flight in my Bonanza in VMC sobering. No horizon on a moonless night away from city lights is not for the faint hearted! Use the Autopilot to reduce workload not as a crutch. Know & fly the required attitude for the phase of flight. Stay current!
I remember when the news was still just reporting the plane as lost. It seemed so unreal that they were missing and most likely deceased. He was described as being a genuine and caring person, and she was a beautiful young woman who had so charisma and style. It’s sad that so little is known about Lauren. May they all rest in peace.
Indeed he was. He was known to care about the less fortunate people in society, not just the wealthy and famous. He had a good heart. As a student pilot at the time, who was actually taking lessons (at Teterboro Airport) that very afternoon (the haziest day of the summer), I had no idea he was even a pilot. When I heard of the crash, I was devastated as well. Continuing my flight training was rough after that day, but I finished up and earned my PPL in Oct.
Over the years, his accident has served as a valuable lesson for me in my flying passion! RIP to him and his passengers 🙏🏾
I can imagine, once you get spatially disoriented, things can spiral out of control very quickly... even if after a few seconds you realize what's going on, it might just be too late to recover. Don't underestimate the risk of this
Over confidence is what kills a pilot too. I am so keen for Pilot Debrief to make an episode on the plane crash of one of the most successful cinema composers, James Horner - what happened to him? I was so distraught when he died because his music was beautiful and intense such as Aliens, Titanic, Avatar, Braveheart etc.
as well my favorite. the theme to "The Perfect Storm"
@@bigwaidave4865 I lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts for 10 years where the perfect storm was filmed if that is your reference. :-) Another tragedy drowning, no funner than crashing a plane and I am a licensed boat captain. Seen it.
What a great suggestion.
This is great, I'd be so interested in watching one on him from Hoover
I knew James Horner was no longer with us, but didn't know it was from a plane crash. I'll remember him always for his work on Star Trek.
I trained in El Paso, Tx in the 70’s. Flying at night in the desert with city lights rare because of distances in Texas was very disorienting. Similar to flying over the ocean as sky and ground blend together.
Flying at night in a single engine aircraft especially 1990’s technology was a risk. Engine failures/instrument failures more common. Lots of crashes around Mt Franklin in El Paso with night flying and IMC.
My dad was a private pilot and I flew with him often in my early teens and frequently we landed at Block Island, Barnstable, Marthas Vinyard and Nantucket. I distinctly remember him saying to always expect a haze to blanket the Cape & Islands as it got later as this happened many times even when not forecasted. Also, when he went from a Cheroke to a Mooney, he said it required much more vigilance + selectivity in where he would land as this was a much more aggressive airplane. With my p 16:07 ilot license lacking opinion, if l did make this trip I would have followed coast line with visual, landed at Barnstable for the night (sleeping at their compound in Hyannis), got up very early and flown the sister to the Vinyard in daylight. Gotten back b4 everyone was even awake and joined in with wedding festivities. This is from an unlicensed novice going solely upon my father's fear of night haze on Cape & Islands obscuring visibility. If I could figure this out- why couldn't he, or one of the sisters?????
Hoover, keep up the great work. You’re a good story teller, and you have my complete attention every time I view any of your videos.
Excellent video. Hubris definitely played a major role.
"HUBRIS?"
@@buckbuckner3505Correct
Aircraft don’t care how wealthy you are, what your social status is, or how famous you are.
RIP.
what a silly comment
@@TheApacheTrail A friend, not short of money, just sold Dallas Doll P51, sold business few years ago, just bought new home, retirement just about to get pension..his Cub nose dive after take off killing him. Funeral few weeks..
@@flybobbie1449 I am struggling to see how an actual airplane would see who owns it
@@TheApacheTrail I think you're struggling full stop mate .
@@TheApacheTrail Not the aircraft it's the attitude of the pilot. Some wealthy are risk takers, reason why they are wealthy. Unfortunately being risky in aviation gets you killed.
I remember when this happened everybody was saying the Kennedy curse. I always said probably pilot error. Thanks for the great video
In all of the Kennedy "curse" cases, outside of Teddy's incident, it has now been determined that the CIA played a role in them. Both JFK and RFK were inside jobs involving players that these two would not play along with. The two were known enemies of the Military Industrial Complex/Deep State that Eisenhower warned Americans about in his primetime televised farewell speech. At the time of his death, John Jr. was running for the NY Senate seat against Hilary Clinton. That said, we all know now that the CIA and FBI covered for her while she was committing her coverup crimes while she was in the Secretary of State office. That's not a conspiracy theory...that's a fact! Based on all of these people's and organizations' track records that are now all coming to light, I am not convinced that this plane wasn't sabotaged from the start, with a cover up ensuing. Prove me wrong!
I love your videos. You obviously know what you’re talking about and your videos are thorough and detailed.
Last night I was awoken by a severe cramp in my right foot. When I got out of bed, i could barely put any weight on it. Until last night, I had no idea how debilitating that could be. I wonder if he had some kind of episode on his foot.
He should have never flown that night without an instructor. An avoidable tragedy.
Agree especially with an injured foot
I see at least 4 RED FLAGS that should have caused this pilot to NOT attempt the flight!😢
It's always easy to see those red flags through the telephoto lens of hindsight.
Like a big red banner behind the plane . He lived a charmed life but this was the BIG mistake that shouldn't have happened.
@gregfaris6959 Why the negativity? Isn't the point of these debriefs the hindsight perspective? So that others may avoid making the same mistakes? And when someone identifies red flags, isn't that a lesson learned and "mission accomplished" for Hoover? 🤔
As one mother told me shortly after the crash "I'm glad that his mother had already passed away for it would have surely killed her to have her only son die". They have a profound history of tragedy.
They created tragedies for lots of other people too. No thanks.
Big ego, hot plane, bad weather, ignored the changing conditions, marital troubles, deadline to get there, late take off. None of this says it’s going to go well.
not so bright
not to mention the fact that he had to live with the fact that his father died like he did. But that's a whole nother story and we all know who was involved. Such a shame and a lot for a young man to handle.
I was waiting for you to finally do this one! Thanks😊
I’m glad this was an accurate presentation.. I have read so many conspiracy theorie about this … he simply got in over his head.. which is so easy to do.. I’m private pilot flying a longez and never play with the weather…
The conspiracy nuts are out of control. 🤯
Funny thing is, very few of them are pilots (which is a good thing).😂
When your Ego and Obstinance exceeds your ABILITIES… 🙏🏻
Jackie believed he was not serious enough to fly. He waited until she passed
Great explanation. Sadly This scenario has repeated itself over and over and over in the aviation world.
My son, 27, began private flight training yesterday. Among other things, we talk about you. If a genie out of a magic lamp gave me only one wish for my son, and for wherever his flying may take him, I would wish that he becomes a Hoover-type airman. Much respect, sir.
Amazing debrief! As one of the divers who had to recover the Plane and three bodies it’s always good to hear why the plane ended up at the bottom of the ocean. What we found down there could only be described as a head on collision with the water.
Great job as usual, so enjoy learning about what took place and the follow up you give.
Hoover, you do a great service. Thank you and keep up the good work.
A small comment that JFK, Jr. was not President Kennedy's only son. He had a son named Patrick who, unfortunately, died 2 days after his birth in 1963. I would not mention this, but it was a shock that really affected both him and Jackie. He's buried next to his father in Arlington.
sad
So very sad. I remember that.
At the time; His only living son.
Hi Hoover…may I suggest that you investigate the fatal plane crash of another scion of a famous American family? Richard Rockefeller (great grandson of John D. Rockefeller) died about ten years ago when he took off in bad weather, failed to gain altitude, and crashed into some trees. He was in his sixties and a much more experienced pilot than JFK Jr, but in addition to being a Rockefeller he was also a doctor - a double dose of arrogance. I went to school with the guy and he was so full of himself even as a teenager that frankly I’m amazed that he managed to fly for forty-odd years before digging himself a hole in the ground.
Alright, tell us how you really feel?
He was a reckless person. Even flying with a broken leg. Plus his wife was angry and she was in a salon, changing her nail polish. She refused to be rushed. That’s why they were so late. They got caught up in the traffic as well. His mother was completely against him flying a plane. That’s why he waited until Jackie died to obtain his license, buy a plane, etc..
I’ve always wanted to see your take on this incident.
WHO??
John acted irresponsibly-but I think in his arrogance he thought he could handle it. From what I’ve read he was a risk taker like some of his family members. That’s fine but not when you’re carrying 2 passengers.
he had ADHD which also led to his behaviors that caused the accident - poor problem solving, impulsivity
@@pam8056and its been kept out of the records, but who know if he was on amphetamine for the ADHD and pain killers for the ankle fracture.
All 3 are still with us..had to fake their death..just like MJackson..Elvis..and 900 others faked death..matter of time before the world knows..although millions & millions know this..only if one has been looking for info..
Another part of this crazy world right now
That is the real Kennedy curse - arrogance and not enough fear to stay safe and keep others safe.
All his instructors indicate he was conservative in decision-making.
It is far more likely he did not fully appreciate the risks that were present, and the expectations of his two passengers outweighed his own better judgement.
Yet another example of a pilot not being clear headed about what "failure" means in this context. He wasn't just risking an "oh darn" situation, and a good mantra would be "our lives are on the line, should I risk them?"
I'm a pilot, nowhere near as good as most. Learning every day. Flying at night is a whole other beast. I'm certified for night and take it very seriously. Sad this happen. I remember in my training when my instructor placed my hood on so not to see my panel. Did a few maneuvers and then took the hood of to recover. 100% I was in level flight. Not even close!!! Learned a lot that night.!!! For those that don't fly, so hard to believe that your body sometimes cannot tell you're in a decent and banked!! Would never of believed it myself if it wasn't for the training that night.
Spatial D is similar to pregnancy. You can talk about it and explain it all day, but unless you've experienced it, you have no idea what it's like, lol.
😅Fuel imbalance could have been a contributing factor. In the PA32 the outboard tank would be used first causing a massive imbalance. The King autopilot would have held the wings level but upon disconnecting said autopilot it would be near impossible to keep to wing level at night in low visibility with no horizon line. His prior aircraft was a C182 which is normally flown with the fuel selector in the both position keeping the wings level. If he didn’t remember to switch tanks spatial disorientation would be probable. In VFR day I’ve found it almost impossible to keep the wings level in such an imbalanced
State without the use of an autopilot.
I remember this. Bad weather and misdirection. 0:27
No he wasn't rated for instruments. Sun went down he only flew in daylight.
@@scottmaz4063 listen to the video. He routinely flew in the night.
Fame and wealth had it's privileges. The US Navy dispatched it's entire east coast fleet looking for Kennedy Jr.
Yep, I’ve often commented (very sarcastically) how comforting it is to know that if one of my flights ever goes missing that half of the U.S. Navy will be sent to look for me. What a crock of crap. It’s sad that his poor decision making led to this accident, but but the people I feel sorry for are the ladies and their families - not a trust fund kid who overestimated his abilities.
Well all that wealth and fame didn't save him.
@@Hummerbird99 He took 3 tries at the NY bar before he passed. he wasn't the smartest stump in the forest.
@@Hummerbird99 - If anything it probably bred the hubris/arrogance that led to the accident.
@@bradcrosier1332 a tell all book by one who knew the kennedys said how john was not the guy everyone thinks. careless and not focused.
There was another factor if you read the book Ask Not by Maureen Callahan about the Kennedys. John was a thrill seeker who had a LONG history of reckless "adventures" that almost got him (and the women he was with) killed.
That’s was a great book.
I was flying that Night. I left Nantucket just after dark heading West towards KISP . It Was A Clear Dark Night and I was flying a Dassault Falcon900 EX . I left the owner & his wife on KACK and flew back to Islip MacArthur Airport got into my car and drove home. The next morning when I turned on the TV I was STUNNED.
Did you encounter the haze that I and so many others experienced that day? I was on a training flight with my CFI during the afternoon, out of KTEB. The haze that particular day was the worst I'd seen all summer. I couldn't tell from the ground how bad it was until we were up in it. I had no idea JFK Jr. was a pilot and we frequented KCDW (and KMMU) regularly to practice landings. T&Gs were prohibited at KTEB, due to the heavy corporate jet traffic.
Like you, I was stunned when I heard the news the next day!
I loved night flying as a VFR pilot with an instrument rating. But I have turned around at night more than a few times because of low visibility. Night and questionable weather is a recipe for disaster, especially for a low time pilot.
When I got my cast off, my foot and ankle muscles were so weak I could barely move my foot. I was shocked by the de-conditioning. I needed to get strong through Physical therapy.
He apparently thought his foot was fine to fly, but I wonder.
I experienced the same thing. I did rehab and then committed to swimming laps to build up the muscles
I experience the same thing after a knee surgery in 2018 but also if he was on painkillers which would lower his inhibitions and take his pain away that would understand a little bit more of why he decided to do this flight as I'm a recovering alcoholic and drug addict with multiple years sober
Unfortunately there are reports John stopped for a couple bottles of wine too on his way to the airport
@@pamshewan9181 Maybe to bring to the reception?
There’s not much time to drink while flying; hope he didn’t indulge while waiting for the ladies and doing the pre-flight.
@@MTB_FANATIC99Hi from a fellow hockey fan.
Great Video. As you had mentioned in a past video about the Nelons and the Bramlage families, though the high performance complicated plane you are flying can be flown with a single pilot, it might be a good idea if you can have a second pilot fly with you to cover some of the workload. In John Junior’s case his ego may have gotten the best of him to show the women he can handle the plane without any help.
Keep in mind that what started out as a flight into dusk conditions turned into a full-blown night flight. The offer of a second pilot was likely made when the original flight plan was in play and the decision to rethink the offer fell back in the clutter of his decision process. A new plane, flight at night, delay after delay in getting off the ground, the pressure of promising to drop off the sister and make it to the wedding... I don't think ego was a primary factor in this tragedy. Knowing when to pull the plug on making a flight can be difficult. This is why pilots create a conditional checklist that takes all these factors into consideration and tosses a red flag when different conditions are met.
Also, if you’re a private pilot, and you can’t reconcile decreasing altitude with your attitude indicator and your turn indicator, you should not be flying as PIC.
I think I was in high school when this crash happened, if I remember correctly it was super foggy and a major factor.
Thick haze over the entire New England area that day. The worst all summer.
I always wondered what you thought of this particular mishap. Thank you covering this.
great debreif--i didn't hear anything untold however
I tried my best to present at least a few details that most people wouldn’t be familiar with and my perspective on this event.
@@pilot-debrief gotcha. nice job 👍🏾
That’s his ‘thing’ I see, use words to pull view and words to keep us watching and waiting and watching.
@@pilot-debrief Well, one thing I learned was due to viewer comments. I had always figured that it was a light haze that was increasing, and visibility was about nil. Comments here from several pilots who were in the area that day indicate it was the worst haze of the year. Wow.
I've said it before, but I'm saying it again, the most dangerous period for a pilot is between 250 and 1,000 hours of flight time. You've gained confidence but often that confidence exceeds actual ability especially when conditions are not nominal.
John didn't know where he was and he didn't know what his aircraft was doing. I doubt he ever knew he was in a bank. Dirty artificial horizon and never thought to look at his bank angle indicator.
I was pounding 135 freight at the time of this incident flying twin Cessnas. My thoughts at the time were very low time pilot, new hot rod airplane, and I just knew that spacial disorientation had got him. I have only experienced that one time in my 22,830 hour career and it had just happened to me about three months prior to this incident. I literally had to force myself to fly the instruments for about 30 seconds until it cleared. That “feeling” goes totally against everything that you’re seeing on the gauges and you do have to “force yourself” to not to give in to it.
Thanks for your great as always analysis Hoover. I really enjoy them.
I have heard that his mother didn't want him to fly, so he quit. After her death in 1994, John decided to take it up again.
In 1973, Alexander Onassis, son of Aristotle Onassis died in a controversial light plane crash at the age of 24. Ari was married to Jackie at the time and she saw how he was impacted by the death of his only son which led to his own death only 2 yrs later. So yes, out of respect for his mother, Jr. mostly complied with her desire that he not fly light planes. Looks like her concern was warranted.
There's a reason that a commercial pilot without a instrument rating cannot fly over 50 miles from the home airport or fly at night. As a commercial pilot you have shown skills above that of a private pilot and yet they don't want you to go over 50 miles since you are more likely to encounter weather or at night where you can have this scenario. Even scattered clouds at night can be a killer. If you can't see them you can't avoid them.
Any pilot without a instrument rating or not able to bring their A game with a instrument rating should think really hard about flying cross country at night. The FAA gives us a lot of freedom as pilots and it is up to us to make sure we fly responsibly.
Before I got my instrument rating I was flying from Laughlin to Palm Springs at night. I did everything I could to make sure that the ceiling was high enough that it wouldn't be a factor. I had preplanned that if anything seem weird that I would immediately turn back and land. As we flew along there was a very high stratus ceiling. As we were getting close to Palm Springs my passenger said that it was raining. I looked to the wingtip and in the strobes I could see the rain. I immediately turned off the strobes and said to her, "No, it's not!"
I made sure that there could be no distractions and I kept my eyes glued to the Artificial Horizon, altimeter, turn and bank, Directional Gyro, and airspeed! Until I could see the lights of Palm Springs that instrument panel was my world!
A commercial pilot can fly as far as they want or anytime day or night.
However, they can NOT fly for HIRE at night or greater than 50 miles from the home airport. FAA is protecting paying passengers and property, not the pilot.
@@skyboy1956 Well, I guess that would go without saying. I don't think that any of us would take a written, pay for instruction, pay for a check ride, just so we would then be limited to 50 miles and then not be able to fly at night. Duh! My point is the FAA is saying that these things increase the risk and we don't want a pilot, who has just demonstrated a increased skill, to expose paying passengers to it. And I am saying that if the FAA is saying that these are higher risk then we as pilots should consider that too. Yes, you are free to go out and kill yourself. Heck, you can kill your passengers, too. If they are willing to get in a plane with you. But, as I said before, a responsible pilot should understand that these things increase the risk and shouldn't be taken lightly.
@@libertine5606 Commercial certificate w/ no instrument rating is in nearly every ag pilot's pocket. Here's a kicker to that. I know ag pilots that spray at night. So they operate for hire at night. Some do have an instrument rating, but the plane is not equipped for instrument flight. Those regs are violated daily yet the FAA won't touch it.
He should have left in the morning the following day instead also flying over water at night is very dangerous.
thank you, charles lindberg
Hoover. Great job as always. I was on cruise in the Gulf when it happened. All of us immediately said spatial disorientation. Keep up the great work brother. Chef USN Ret
This was a sad and unnecessary accident as well. When I was going through ground school before I became a pilot we studied this accident thoroughly.