On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 04:06:37 GMT, tony roberts
wrote in nospam-B9EC32.21100711102004@shawnews::

Too bad JFK, Jr hadn't heard that. On hazy, moonless nights
instrument rating skills are useful.

Roger that - and I use mine every time I fly at night.
If what I heard is true though, JFK was clocked descending at 5000 fpm.
It would have taken more than instrument skills to recover that

Ostensibly, the rapid rate of descent was the result of a grave yard
spiral. Perhaps instrument skills would have kept him from entering
it in the first place.

- sounds as though he lost his empennage to me.

You do possess remarkable powers of deduction. I don't recall that
being mentioned in the NTSB report. Upon what do you base that
opinion?

And it was at very least the third time that he had been discovered
flying IMC without the required training.

That is also a new bit of news. Discovered by whom? Given that most
of his flight hours were accumulated with an instructor next to him,
it may have been true, but not a violation. Where did you hear that?

It's a tough lesson - learning that you are not invincible.
Or

Nursing a broken leg from an ultralight crash should have given him a
clue.

- was his aircraft sabotaged?

Doubtful. He just didn't fly the flight he had planned due to delays
caused by automobile traffic and his sister-in-law. That can happen
to any pilot. Had he departed earlier, there might have been a more
visible horizon.

Both explanations are highly probable . . .

None of the speculative causes you present are plausible nor necessary
to explain the loss of control, IMO.

Maritime weather can change a lot in 10 minute; his WX briefing was
over two hours old by the time he finally departed.

Which is it . . .

Likely, it was a loss of visual ground reference combined with
inexperience...

the plot thickens . . .

And who is next . . .???

With your powers of clairvoyance, you should be able to provide an
answer to that question. :-)