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July 16, 2135 hours- 10 NM west of Martha’s Vineyard
“Where the hell are we? The chart says Martha’s Vineyard is a little over 10 out. I’m descending to 2200 and heading east.” The Piper Saratoga nosed over into a shallow dive and entered a 20-degree turn to starboard, as the airspeed needle began to increase... 150 knots, 160, and 170. “VERTICAL SPEED” “VERTICAL SPEED” chirped the GPWS, giving John Kennedy a rude awakening. Stunned he looked at the VSI- 4500 FPM and counting. Immediately he eased back on the yoke not too quickly, or we’ll stall as the airspeed indicator reached its maximum travel of 180 knots. The stick shaker activated, with the GPWS chirping “OVERSPEED, OVERSPEED”. As the aircraft pulled out of the dive, the altitude indicator now showed an 8-degree down pitch and the wings were level once again. Another GPWS warning: “TOO LOW TERRAIN, WHOOP WHOOP PULL UP”. At barely 800 feet above Rhode Island Sound the aircraft resumed level flight. Jesus Christ that was close. “Boston Center, this is N9253N, approximately 10 miles east of Martha’s Vineyard. Request flight following and directions to the airport.” “N9253N, Boston Center, are you filing IFR?” “Negative Boston Center.” “N9253N, squawk 7193.” Kennedy set the transponder, punching in 7-1-9-3 from the VFR code 1-2-0-0. “N9235N, Boston Center, radar contact. Descend and maintain 1500, heading 120 until the runway is in sight.” “Climb and maintain 1500, fly heading 120 until runway 15 in sight, N9253N.” The Piper climbed 700 feet and turned to heading 120, with the runway not yet visible. 6, 5.5, 5.2, 5, 4.7... John peered intently through the windscreen with the 8 PAPI lights- all white- now visible. Landing Checklist: GEAR DOWN, THREE GREEN- FLAPS 20- SET- NAVAIDS- IDENTIFIED- VREF- 90 COMM 1 was tuned to 121.4 [2]“Tower, N9235N 3 miles out, 600 feet.” “N9235N, Tower. You are cleared to land runway 15. Winds 210 at 11.” “Cleared to land runway 15, N9235N.” “500, 400, 300, 200, 100, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10” chirped the GPWS as the Saratoga’s main gear contacted the tarmac with a slight squeal. As the plane completed the rollout it then taxied to the ramp. John set the condition lever to OFF and the engine wound down as he ran through the parking checklist. Lauren: “I’ll see you both later” as she exited the plane from the starboard door.

Cockpit of N9235N (PA-32R Saratoga II), July 16. The aircraft is cold and dark.



Martha’s Vineyard 2205

After a 30-minute refuelling and inspecting the aircraft to check for potential overstress damage the Piper took off for Hyannis Port, their final destination. Immediately upon takeoff and contact with Boston Center John remembered the Bendix GPS that would help navigate under IFR rules. While he had not yet received his IFR certification [3] it was worth a shot. After a few button presses a flight plan loaded “KMYY-KHYA” which if loaded would set the Saratoga on a direct course to Hyannis. Oh yeah- that was from last month’s practice session! A few key presses activated it, as was flipping the NAV/GPS switch to “GPS” and engaging NAV mode on the autopilot. The PA-32 slowly turned to starboard while ALT was set to 3000 feet, which was confirmed with ATC shortly thereafter. John glanced at the GPS, which indicated an ETA of 13 minutes at the present speed of 140 knots. For 6 to 7 minutes he could relax before the next descent was due to begin. No chatter in the cockpit he remembered, thinking of how he would discuss their lateness to the wedding that was due to be held the following day. 7 minutes later ALT HOLD was disengaged- this time there was no control tower and he would have to conduct the final approach by visual aids alone since the tower had ended operations nearly an hour previously. “N9235N, Boston Center. Descend and maintain 1200, heading 150 until runway in sight.” “Descend and maintain 1200, maintain heading 150 until runway in sight, N9235N.” Disengaging the autopilot, John gently nosed the aircraft down and established the plane on 150. Slowing to 100 knots, he ran through the landing checklist- gear, flaps, and navaids- for the final time of the evening. This time the PAPI was perfect- 4 red, 4 white. Slowly the aircraft descended towards runway 15 and within 30 seconds a rumble was heard as the main gear hit the tarmac. After rollout, the Saratoga taxied to the ramp for the night where John ran through the parking and secure checklists before he and Carolyn finally exited the aircraft. A quick glance at his watch showed the time- 11:48 PM. “Let’s get going” as they both drove the rental car down the narrow, winding roads towards the Compound.

At Rory's wedding, July 17.


Washington, D.C., July 17

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) conducts a press conference in Washington D.C


John McCain had convened a meeting of his top advisers to discuss his upcoming presidential bid. Back in April McCain had announced his candidacy, but due to the Kosovo war he had not held a formal kickoff event, saying that “this is not an appropriate time to launch a political campaign.” Now that Kosovo was winding down, McCain knew that it was now or never. Salter started off: “John, I think we should wait until Faith of My Fathers is published next month. That will remind everyone why they should vote for you.” Weaver: “Bush was in Phoenix today- he held a rally with Governor Hull who has been attacking you for a couple of weeks now.” McCain, furious, hissed: “why did I endorse that asshole in her gubernatorial race anyways?” Weaver was wary of his boss’ legendary temper but also keenly aware of the home-state situation, decided to lay it out for McCain. “John, Gov. Hull is not the only one who is opposing you- among others John Rhodes and Grant Woods.” McCain: “Those fucking assholes. I brought 2 of those 3 alone, and this is how they repay me.” Weaver: “There’s nothing we can do about it for now. Don’t worry about what the national polls is saying- we can beat Bush in New Hampshire but you absolutely must stay out of Iowa at all costs. Your opposition to ethanol subsidies make it a no-go- we’d be dead before we even set up the first phone bank in Des Moines.” McCain: “I agree 100%. We need to stake everything on New Hampshire to get momentum out of the gate. With Faith of My Fathers we need all the veterans and independents possible. South Carolina is going to be a major problem though because of all the opposition from social conservatives. Calling Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell “agents of intolerance” didn’t exactly help you there, even if the statements are correct.” McCain: “Of course- I want you to prepare a rapid-response team, so that way when the inevitable smears from Karl Rove’s shop come we will be ready for them. Otherwise we will be dead before we even get off the ground.” Weaver: “Let’s see who we have backing us in South Carolina: we have the state chairman, Henry McMaster, and Congressmen Mark Sanford and Lindsey Graham. Bush has all the others. New Hampshire is rock-solid, but we can only keep our momentum going through Super Tuesday if we win both New Hampshire and South Carolina. Otherwise we are toast.” McCain: “Let’s get moving then.”


Even though America had two years of unemployment rates just above 4 percent, all the communities I visited and many like them suffered from unemployment that was far higher than that and per capita incomes well below the national average. The unemployment rate at Pine Ridge was well over 70 percent. Yet everywhere we went, I met intelligent, hardworking people who were capable of contributing much more to the economy. I thought doing more to get into these areas was both the right thing to do and economically smart. We were already enjoying the largest economic expansion in history, with a rapidly growing rate of productivity. It seemed to me there were three ways to increase growth without inflation: sell more products and services overseas; increase the workforce participation of particular populations, like welfare recipients; and bring growth to new markets in America where investment was too low and unemployment too high. We were doing well in the first two areas with more than 250 trade agreements. And we had made a good start on the third, with more than 130 empowerment zones and enterprise communities, community development banks, and aggressive enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act. But too many communities had been left behind. I was putting together a legislative proposal to increase available capital to inner cities, rural towns and Indian reservations by $15 billion. I hoped to get strong bipartisan support and was encouraged by the fact that Speaker Hastert was especially interested in the effort. Ehud and Nava Barak had accepted an invitation to spend the night at Camp David with Hillary and me. We had an enjoyable dinner, and Ehud and I stayed up talking until nearly three in the morning. It was clear that he wanted to complete the peace process and believed that his big election victory gave him a mandate to do so. He was interested in doing something substantive at Camp David, especially after I showed him the building where most of the negotiations President Carter mediated between Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin had taken place back in 1978. At the same time I was also preoccupied with trying to get the Northern Ireland peace process back on track. There was a deadlock caused by a disagreement between Sinn Fein and the Unionists over whether the IRA’s decommissioning could occur after the new government was formed or had to come before it. I explained the situation to Barak, who was intrigued by the differences and similarities between the Irish problem and his own. [5]

President Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak conclude a joint press conference at the White House, July 15.


[1, 3] NTSB Accident Report, NYC99MA178
[2] FAA Airport Info, KMVY (Martha’s Vineyard)
[4]. "McCain Having to Prove Himself Even in Arizona." New York Times, July 15, 1999
[5] My Life by Bill Clinton

*In addition to being a political junkie, I'm also an aviation gearhead.
Aviation vocabulary
Cold and Dark: All systems off. Awaiting cockpit initialization checklist.
GPWS: Ground Proximity Warning System, known to us as "Bitchin' Betty."
IFR: Instrument Flight Rules
Squawk: Transponder code
PAPI: Precision Approach Path Indicator
VFR: Visual Flight Rules
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