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Well I do need to correct the timing of the flight. They were supposed to take off ~6:30 so that the whole flight would take place during daylight. They were delayed until ~8:40, which probably put them past even the lingering twilight. The entire flight, therefore, took place in darkness.

JFK Jr had almost no solo night time practice hours in on this plane. Still he did fine for the first lap. It wasn’t until they got to within what *should* have been sight of the Vineyard that everything went south. Due to exceptionally thick haze, the lights of the Vineyard couldn’t be seen at the usual distance. It was all solid blackness—no horizon at all.

JFK Jr must have assumed he’d gone off course. At just the point in the flight when the Vineyard would normally be visible, the plane began to fly very erratically. It descended quickly, climbed again, and then turned sharply away from the Vineyard. Some have speculated that JFK Jr actually flipped the plane briefly upside down.

Shortly after the bizarre maneuvers began the plane dropped off the radar screen. Investigators determined that it hit the water nose first, with enough force to shear both wings off. I’m not a pilot, but I’m guessing JFK Jr’s efforts to get back on course [which until then he’d been doing a good job of staying on] disoriented him quickly and completely. The nosedive ensued.

Cpdiii, I hope you don’t mind the ping. Since you are a pilot, I found your prior post very interesting.