JFK Jr. lives

Was his aircraft so equipped? A brief Google search suggests that autopilot function is a more recent option for the Piper PA-32R.

As I recall, it came out during the post-accident coverage that the aircraft had an autopilot, which would be typical for a complex single like the Saratoga. Personally, I consider a working autopilot mandatory working equipment for flying in that area at night even flying IFR. The issue of a possible lack of a well-defined horizon at night over the water is well-known among pilots in the area off the Cape. It's one of those situations where the flight may be legal for VFR but it's in practical reality an IFR flight. In my experience flying around there, it is all too easy to see how the accident happened; you can get to the point where you really have no visual reference at all, which is apparently what happened with spatial disorientation setting in resulting in a loss of control of the aircraft. It really can be a trap for the unwary, especially with passengers who may be distracting you, which I suspect played a role in all this. Since there was no CVR, we'll never know that for sure, however.
 
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Well, he had already expressed interest, but backed away, from the Senatorial post in New York, that HRC ran for. For shits and giggles, lets assume he decided to make a run for that seat and votes against the build up to the Iraq War. Clinton probably makes a run for another seat and wins. In 2008, JFK JR rides Kennedy nostalgia to the Democratic nomination and defeats Clinton instead of Obama. How does a second Kennedy administration differ from that of Obama? Certainly, there is a lot less open racism in the opposition.
 
Well, he had already expressed interest, but backed away, from the Senatorial post in New York, that HRC ran for. For shits and giggles, lets assume he decided to make a run for that seat and votes against the build up to the Iraq War. Clinton probably makes a run for another seat and wins. In 2008, JFK JR rides Kennedy nostalgia to the Democratic nomination and defeats Clinton instead of Obama. How does a second Kennedy administration differ from that of Obama? Certainly, there is a lot less open racism in the opposition.

This would actually be a pretty decent TL. The only problem I see is in figuring out how he beats HRC. By that point, the Clintons had been cultivating New York money for years. He would have been swamped by money and by the amount of NY political talent that was loyal to the Clintons. While she could have been beaten, it would have been a nasty campaign and I don't think JFK, Jr. had the fire in his belly for that kind of battle.

His real opening was in 1992 when Ted Weiss died. It opened up a Congressional seat that probably could have been his for the taking. If he had taken that opening, the Senate in 2000 would probably have been a cakewalk and Hillary would have been looking elsewhere, perhaps toward a certain opportunity in Illinois in 2004...
 
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