John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy INTERACTIVE: The ship Rude, equipped with a special sonar, searches off the Massachusetts coast for John Kennedy Jr.'s lost plane RELATED VIDEO CNN's Kathleen Koch profiles John F. Kennedy Jr. Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Richard Roth reports on Carolyn Bessette Kennedy Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Jonathan Karl reports on the life of John F. Kennedy Jr. Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Daryn Kagan provides insights on the life of John F. Kennedy Jr. Windows Media 28K 80K To view the latest video streams, use the arrow buttons below to scroll through the video gallery.        Windows Media Real        28 K 80 K RELATED AUDIO: Clinton expresses his support to the Kennedy and Bessette families (July 18) 218K/20 sec. AIFF or WAV sound  SPECIAL: Remembering John F. Kennedy Jr.   • Profile   • Pictorial Biography   • In his own words   • Flight Path and Search Area   • The Kennedy Tragedies   • Reactions  ALSO: Developments: Kennedy compound: Family keeps vigil, as crowds gather Bessette family tries to guard privacy amid public tragedy Mourners leave flowers, poetry on JFK doorstep The flight: JFK Jr.'s routine flight goes awry Reaction: World's eyes again drawn to Kennedy family drama Background: The Dynasty: TIME 100 Looks at the Kennedys Side-scan sonar takes wide survey of ocean floor MESSAGE BOARDS: Kennedy tragedy

July 19, 1999
Web posted at: 5:11 a.m. EDT (0911 GMT)

In this story: Divers' boat arrives Monday NTSB officials arrive Clinton offers tribute Path of aircraft Debris to be cataloged Boats search 550-square-mile area RELATED STORIES, SITES

BOSTON (CNN) -- After an exhaustive search for a plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr., authorities have confirmed his family's worst fears: The three occupants of the plane are now presumed dead.

Divers are preparing Monday to search the waters off Martha's Vineyard for a sunken plane, and the Coast Guard has shifted its focus from rescue of any survivors to recovery of wreckage.

At a press conference Sunday night, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Richard Larrabee said that given the time that has elapsed since the plane disappeared from radar Friday night, search officials have concluded it is unlikely that Kennedy, his wife, Carolyn, or his sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, survived the crash.

Larrabee said he spent painful moments with the Kennedy and Bessette families late Sunday, telling them that hope had run out, and that the focus was being shifted away from rescue. "It was very difficult to share this information with them," he said.

"We offer our condolences to the families and loved ones," Larrabee said.

In water temperatures of about 68 degrees, it is unlikely that anyone could survive longer than 12 hours, Larrabee said. "We know that the aircraft was not equipped with any survival equipment -- life rafts, life jackets -- anything of that nature."

On Monday, the Coast Guard plans to explore two possible sites where the wreckage might lie, based on preliminary data from a sonar-equipped research vessel, Larrabee said.

According to officials, recovering the wreckage could take up to two weeks.

Three boats searched the coastal waters all night, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Ed Cygan.

The scanner-equipped ship Rude, the Willow, with its crew of more than two dozen, and the Sanibel, which carries a crew of 17.

Monday afternoon, the U.S.S. Grasp is scheduled to arrive at Woods Hole from Norfolk, Virginia. It carries remote-controlled underwater vehicles, called ROVs (remote-operated vehicles), Cygan said, and a crew of deep-water divers. State police divers will be doing the shallow-water dives, he said.

Also on Monday, a side scanner will be installed on the Willow, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Labine.

NTSB officials arrive

Earlier Sunday, a U.S. Air Force plane detected a brief signal from what was thought to be an emergency beacon. But that lead didn't pan out upon further investigation, Larrabee said. He said a data marker dropped off by searchers may have been what was detected.

Kennedy's plane carried an emergency transmitting beacon that should have activated if the plane crashed, although the aircraft's manufacturer said the beacon might not work if submerged.

While new debris, including a headrest and insulation from an airplane, were recovered Sunday, searchers found no signs of survivors.

Meanwhile, top officials from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived on Cape Cod to begin a full-scale investigation into the crash. NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said the probe could take six to nine months.

"We are at the very beginning stages of what will be a painstakingly detailed investigation," he said.

Clinton offers tribute

After returning to the White House from a weekend at Camp David, President Bill Clinton offered the sympathies and prayers of the nation to the Kennedy and Bessette families.

"At this difficult moment, we hope the families of these three fine young people will feel the strength of God, the love of their friends and the prayers of their fellow citizens," Clinton said.

He also offered a tribute to the Kennedy family, faced with the latest in a string of tragedies.

"For more than 40 years now, the Kennedy family has inspired Americans to public service, strengthened our faith in the future and moved our nation forward," he said. "Through it all, they have suffered much and given more."

Clinton said John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife had "captured our imagination and won our affection."

Path of aircraft

Kennedy's Piper Saratoga II HP vanished Friday night about 9:40 p.m. EDT while on a flight from Essex County Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey, to Martha's Vineyard, a resort island off the Massachusetts mainland.

The NTSB's chief investigator, Robert Pearce, gave a timeline for the flight, pieced together by witness reports and tracking by radar of what investigators believe was Kennedy's craft.

Pearce said Kennedy took off at 8:38 p.m., turned to the northeast and climbed to 5,600 feet. The craft followed the coast of Connecticut until it reached Westerly, Rhode Island, at 9:26 p.m., where it turned and made a beeline over open water toward Martha's Vineyard.

Fourteen minutes later, Kennedy's plane was at 2,500 feet, about 17 miles west of the Martha's Vineyard airport and about 10 miles from the island's coast. Radar picked the plane up 29 seconds later at 1,800 feet, which was the last contact with the plane. Kennedy made no distress call.

Pearce said the 700-foot descent in 29 seconds was within the capabilities of the airplane. He said that because of the configuration of radar in the area, it would not be unusual for radar to lose the plane below 1,800 feet.

Hall urged the media and public not to speculate on possible causes of the apparent crash.

"The answer is simple -- at this point, we do not know. We will not know for some time. There is even a possibility we will never know," he said.

Larrabee said it was difficult to tell the Kennedys the search had shifted from rescue to wreckage recovery

Debris to be cataloged

On Sunday, Larrabee said a headrest from an airplane was found. Another headrest had been recovered Saturday.

Also, Capt. Robert Bird of the Massachusetts State Police said that insulation, consistent with the type used to line the aircraft cabins, washed up near Philbin Beach on Martha's Vineyard.

On Saturday, other debris -- including Lauren Bessette's suitcase and a prescription pill bottle bearing Carolyn Kennedy's name -- was found in the same area.

All of the recovered debris was being taken for cataloging to a Coast Guard facility at Wood's Hole on Cape Cod and will eventually be taken to Otis Air National Guard Base, where a command post for the search effort was set up Sunday.

Larrabee said the unified command post would oversee both search and recovery efforts and include representatives from the Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force, Civil Air Patrol and NTSB.

John Kennedy Jr., 38, publisher of George magazine and son of the late president and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, bought the plane in April. He was a licensed pilot.

He and Carolyn Kennedy, 33, whom he married in 1996, were on their way to Hyannisport, Massachusetts, to attend a Kennedy family wedding. They were to drop off Lauren Bessette, 35, a New York investment banker, on Martha's Vineyard before continuing to Hyannisport.

Boats search 550-square-mile area

On Sunday, search boats and planes criss-crossed a 550- square-mile area just southwest of Martha's Vineyard. All- terrain vehicles set out just after 5 a.m. to comb the beaches near Aquinnah for more signs of the wreckage.

A high-tech survey ship operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration probed the bottom of the ocean for manmade objects with sonar. NOAA Cmdr. Sam De Bow said a second NOAA survey ship, the Whiting, was en route from Delaware Bay to assist in the search.

Two state police search boats were being deployed to search Nomans Land Island, 3 1/2 miles off the southwest coast of Martha's Vineyard, Bird said. The island, now a National Wildlife Refuge, was once used as a military target. Any search, Bird said, will be conducted only on its shores because of the threat of unexploded munitions.

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