Kenny Keller breaks down the 10 mistakes that led to JFK Jr.'s 1999 crash, including get-there-itis, flying a new plane with only 100 hours in type, and ignoring bad weather. The video frames them as a chain of poor decisions that killed a pilot with 350 total hours.
Questions this video answers
10
About six weeks earlier.
About 100 hours solo of roughly 350 total hours.
No — he filed no flight plan, made no request for flight following, and made no radio contact of any kind after leaving Essex County Airport.
No — the NTSB report indicated the autopilot was not in use at the time of the crash.
Chapters
Hey. Day 207 Coffee with Kenny Coming from if I pronounce it right, Timberon, California absolutely amazing and beautiful here. Absolutely amazing. Day 207 Coffee with Kenny I am Kenny Keller, creator of Helicopter Line Ground School and I want to talk about the 10 mistakes JFK Jr. Made. Lessons from a national tragedy. And I'm taking this information from an AOPA article that I just googled and found online and it matches the story I remember hearing and seeing 20 years ago when this first happened. I remember watching an hour long documentary on it and it was even though it's a tragedy, it's a learning experience. Right? And I've thought about this accident over the years and I've talked about it during training with students and this is, you know, we take it for what it's worth. It's a tragedy, but it's a learning experience as well. Right. And this article goes along exactly with what I remember watching in this documentary many years ago. And the 10 mistakes. Number one, get thereitis. I'm not going to harp on that one because I just did a video a few weeks ago on Get Theritis that was one of the top seven things from the National Helicopter Safety team on why accidents are happening or to help prevent accidents in 2019 since we're chasing records this year with all the fatalities. Number two, stress. Kennedy's level of stress was probably high when he climbed into the cockpit. Consider what he was facing prior to his flight. He had broken his ankle in an ultralight crash on Martha's Vineyard about six weeks earlier. And it goes on to talk about he just had the cast off, was limping around and, and it was actually seen kind of, you know, like leaning on certain objects or couch because to keep the pain at a minimum. So okay, you've got get the rightis stress of, you know, dealing with a recent injury just getting a cast off. Number three, new aircraft. Kennedy had recently upgraded from a Cessna 182 Skylane to a Piper Saratoga. This is an airplane accident, but it doesn't matter. You could relate this to helicopters as well. Moving into a more advanced helicopter that you don't have a lot of time in. Solo time. His solo time was only about 100 hours of his 350 hours. Okay, weather. Although Kennedy did not check weather earlier in the day, he did check weather earlier in the day. He failed to get the current weather just before takeoff nor did he check with pilots who had just landed at a local airport. And it goes on to talk more about that. So weather again probably should hit some more weather videos here coming up in the near future, right? Because weather is a big one. And we know this making your no go decision and all the things we've been covering, you know, turn around or land or just don't even go to start with. So weather. Another one of them, he had an instructor, said no instructor, which he was a rated pilot, but he had an instructor that offered to go with him. He turned this instructor down. Number seven, no right seater. It talks about how his wife and sister sat in the back of the airplane. And although they weren't rated pilots, they could have been up in the front helping him. And I agree 100%, this one is just like the last flight that I did with my daughter. She's not a rated pilot, but she was up there with me running the iPad, using her phone, watching, helping me watch weather. It is a huge help when you have somebody sitting there beside you. So here he had two people that could have. Either one of them could have been up in the front helping him, you know, turn dials, looking outside. There's all kinds of things someone sitting next to you could be doing to help you, even if they're not a rated pilot. No radio contact. After leaving Essex County Airport. Kennedy never made radio contact with any controller for the remainder of the trip. In addition, he had filed no flight plan, made no request for flight following, and made no radio contact of any kind. No autopilot. Kennedy's airplane had a very good autopilot and Kennedy knew how to use it. The NTSB report indicated the autopilot was not in use at the time of the crash. Number 10 did not alter plans. It is clear that Kennedy should have never taken the taken off that night in these conditions. So this is where they call it. You know, this is part of where I first learned about the Bad Judgment Chain when I watched that documentary. That's what I got out of it. And the Bad Judgment chain was mentioned. And, you know, this is just a short copy with Kenny Video, so you could dive into these more. And I highly recommend that you either check out the AOP AOPA article or watch one of the documentaries. I'm sure there's been even more made since. And I know early in my training, you know, early in my career, watching that documentary and learning about what was going on with his life. And again, when you read through it or you watch the documentary, you'll learn more and more. How about, you know, he's having trouble possibly in his marriage and his business. His magazine was failing and Possibly going to go out of business. So when you start stacking one reason on top of another reason on top of another reason, that's what you call the bad judgment chain. So the idea is when in the bad judgment chain is when you realize you're starting to come up with a series of things. Any one by itself might not be a big deal, but when you start stacking one on top of the other, on top of the other, you're setting yourself up for disaster. So the idea is to recognize this bad judgment chain and break it. You know, when you're preparing for a flight, you know, the scenarios could be endless, right? And things start stacking up and, you know, in your mind you're going, well, you know, this is happening. And I've got this struggle going on right now. Oh, I'm running late. That is the bad judgment chain. And again, as this is being a tragic event, it's a learning experience. And again, I've used it over the years. I've seen a lot of other people talk about this accident and use it in training. My mom almost named me John Frederick because she was such a huge JFK fan. And instead they decided on Kenneth A. Keller. But I knew my mom was a big JFK fan, so of course, you know, he was big in our house. And then when this accident happened, just because of, you know, it being JFK Jr. It was very, of course, national attention. And I don't know how to say other than just. It really kind of rings home. All right, day number three of our trip. Getting ready to head over to Sacramento either today or tomorrow. Not sure we're gonna hang around here one more day. I have to say, I've spent a lot of time in Southern California and the LA area, and I love it down there. First trip to San Francisco. What a beautiful city. And I know there's a lot of, you know, people make comments about the downtown area and things going on, but you know what? All in all, the area, the city, the Golden Gate Bridge, we're now, I guess, north of San Francisco and the area where are now, I mean, just driving around, the whole experience is just another different feel. And I am absolutely and thoroughly enjoying it. My daughter's still napping, still sleeping. So I thought, you know what? Come out here in this beautiful porch and shoot a video. So just a favor, like, and subscribe to the channel. When you do, click. When you subscribe, click the little bell. That way you'll be notified of the daily video. Lots of cool stuff coming up for the next few days. We're going to be in California till next week, so we're going to do as much interesting stuff for you. Please give us a thumbs up on the video if you didn't like the video, the little thumbs down thing, click on that twice and you can go down below to check out helicopterground.com to go check out any of our courses. Private, commercial, CFI and instrument. Those monthly and yearly options all come with a 24 hour test flight and a 30 day money back guarantee. And I'm filling some sprinkles so I'm going to wrap it up, come back and see us in date or is this 208? I think I said 208. Yeah. So tomorrow will be 209. Alright thanks everybody tuning in. Put your comments down below and we will see you in day two. And I.
