-Caveat Lector-
Can't help myself -- I've got to beat Robalini & company to an expected
"scoop" ...
"The Air Force got a ``positive hit'' on an emergency signal emanating
from northern Long Island ....The Coast Guard launched an aggressive search
of the area around Martha's Vineyard and MONTAUK ..".
Kennedy's Fate Remains Uncertain
By TED ANTHONY
.c The Associated Press
The summer sky was clear and hazy, and the little plane that ascended into
the sky over Fairfield, N.J., disappeared quietly into the spreading night.
But the single-engine Piper Saratoga II HP soaring away from the tree-lined
Essex County Airport and the Friday evening sunset contained no ordinary
pilot.
Inside was a man who, for many, was the very embodiment of the most
celebrated American family ever - John F. Kennedy Jr., heading northeast with
his wife and sister-in-law toward the famous Hyannisport family compound for
a cousin's wedding, a happy day.
It would be five hours before his absence would be officially noticed, more
than 10 before the world would know this: The son of the fallen president,
the heir and namesake to Camelot, the ``sexiest man alive'' and the
founder-editor of George magazine, was nowhere to be found.
There would be no wedding this day for Rory Kennedy and her clan. There would
be only uncertainty.
``It looked to me like he was limping,'' said the last person to see JFK Jr.
on the ground.
Kyle Bailey, who saw Kennedy undergo his pre-takeoff routine at Essex County
Airport, said Kennedy, who arrived in his convertible, might have even had
crutches from a recent paragliding injury. Bailey watched as Carolyn Bessette
Kennedy arrived by car service, but never got a look at Lauren Bessette.
Kennedy and his wife, married for nearly three years, were due Saturday at
the Hyannisport compound, where Kennedys from all over had already gathered,
as they have for three generations, to celebrate. In this case, it was the
nuptials of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's youngest daughter that drew
them together.
For Rory Kennedy, it was to be a happy day in a life marred by tragedy. Her
father was assassinated before she was born; her brother David died of a drug
overdose in 1984; and she was the one who cradled her dying brother Michael
after a 1997 skiing accident.
Some 275 guests had been expected for the private 6 p.m. wedding ceremony for
Rory, a producer and documentary director, and Mark Bailey, a writer-editor.
The bridal party was to include 30 family members and friends.
JFK Jr. was getting there in a relatively new way; he got his pilot's license
only last year, and had spent many weekends of late tending his brand-new,
well-instrumented plane at the Essex County Airport, where 350 private craft
are based. He'd said he loved the new way of traveling.
``Whenever we want to get away, we can just get in a plane and fly off,'' he
told USA Today in May 1998. But not everyone was so enthusiastic.
``The only person I've been able to get to go up with me, who looks forward
to it as much as I do, is my wife,'' he said.
Kennedy was supposed to make a stop on Martha's Vineyard at 10 p.m. to drop
off his sister-in-law at a house once owned by his mother, the late
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Then the couple was set to fly on to Hyannisport
for the wedding.
Kennedy hadn't filed a filght plan, which is often normal for planes of such
size; none is required. The FAA last heard from him at 9:39 p.m.
Then nothing. And more nothing. From John F. Kennedy Jr. and his airplane,
there was only silence.
At the Hyannisport compound, uneasiness set in after midnight. A family
friend reported the plane missing and called the Coast Guard at Woods Hole at
2:15 a.m. The Guard began an immediate search; the Federal Aviation
Administration was notified and called in more military rescuers about 3 a.m.
Authorities also tried to see if the plane had landed elsewhere. It hadn't.
At 3:30 a.m., the Air Force got a ``positive hit'' on an emergency signal
emanating from northern Long Island. Rescuers searched that area for three
hours, but found nothing. At 7:30 a.m., the Coast Guard launched an
aggressive search of the area around Martha's Vineyard and Montauk, N.Y.
Later, the search area was narrowed significantly when officials reviewed
radar records and found the plane's last known location was about 17 miles
southwest of the Vineyard.
The word went forth, and soon the networks were reporting that something was
amiss. Those Americans who watch TV news on their Saturday mornings would get
up to learn that for the Kennedys, yet again, something unimaginable was
afoot.
Saturday would be a surreal day in a lot of places. At the compound, the
family huddled inside, the wedding priests performing a mass of prayer for
the missing. Outside, the curious and the media gathered to watch and wait
for word. And in the Atlantic Ocean, helicopters and boats scoured the water
for something - anything.
Those who were grim held their tongues. Those who were hopeful spoke about
Kennedy. They used the present tense.
It was already Saturday afternoon when the luggage appeared.
At first, it was simply ``debris,'' found by some Martha's Vineyard
beachgoers soaking up the sunny, 90-degree day. But the image quickly
sharpened into focus: a piece of luggage, washing up on Philbin Beach.
Its tag bore a business card with a name: Lauren Bessette.
``It was kind of like, 'Oh God.' It seemed like it would be pretty bad news.
Everyone was shaking,'' said Erin McCarthy, 31, whose friend, Damon Seligson,
found the bag.
They looked inside at the contents: a bathing suit. A hairdryer. Some makeup.
Supplies for a fun weekend. They called 911, and the search refocused to the
waters roughly 17 miles west of the Vineyard.
Soon helicopters were hovering offshore. Boats were searching. Swimmers and
sunbathers were told to get off the beach; they might get cut by debris,
authorities told them.
As afternoon ebbed into evening, the Kennedys stayed sequestered in their
storied compound, on the phone to searchers and praying. The 6 p.m. mark
passed, the moment when Rory Kennedy was to take her vows, and all was quiet
inside.
Outside, an unused white tent stood by the sea, and a flag billowed in the
breeze at full staff.
Around America and the world, from Arlington National Cemetery to Italy and
Israel, the world tried to process the news: The boy who saluted his father's
casket perfectly, now lost at sea. Uncertainty for a man whose father
captured the imagination of a generation, whom Vice President Al Gore
described as being ``at the high noon of his life.''
And in Hyannisport, home of so many smiles and sorrows, Kennedy tears flowing
once again.
``It was just wonderful over there last night, just exciting,'' said
Christina Rivers of Hyannis, who was to style the hair of the bridal party.
``It's just not fair,'' she said. ``I don't know what it is, but it's not
fair.''
EDITOR'S NOTE - This story is based on information from Associated Press
reporters in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Washington.
AP-NY-07-17-99 1831EDT
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