His airplane needed the system, but if it had it, he could have flown the ILS, not legally but the system doesn't know and it is always better to be there in person to get a flight violation, then die.
He was flying late and in poor weather
FTA: 'Also, because the flight left late, Kennedy ended up flying in darkness, through an unusually heavy haze and over open water.'
IMC conditions, no horizon, light to darkness from overland to overwater - best vertigo inducing scenarion in the world.
But that is the MSM’s story and they never lie./sarc