Coast Guard Commander's Book Recounts 1999 JFK Jr. Search

A new book from Harper Select, "The Last Flight: The Untold Story of the Search for JFK Jr.," recounts the five-day federal and state search that followed the July 16, 1999, plane crash off Martha's Vineyard that killed John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Lauren Bessette, the Boston Herald reported.

The authors are Capt. W. Russell "Russ" Webster, the Coast Guard officer who ran the operation, and Theresa Mitchell Webster, a maritime historian who is married to him. The book took 15 years to complete and leaves out the couple's personal lives, the Herald reported.

Russ Webster told the Herald the effort was the largest and costliest U.S. search for private citizens after a small-aircraft crash, and that representatives of 32 local, state and federal agencies adjusted conflicting protocols to work the site together. The Coast Guard does not operate underwater, NOAA survey crews do not work above the waterline, and the Navy recovered wreckage and remains without sonar capacity, he said.

On the cause, Webster pointed to the National Transportation Safety Board, which found spatial disorientation. He said Kennedy had flown to and from Martha's Vineyard 35 times before, departed Caldwell, New Jersey, after sunset over roughly 30 miles of open water, and did not appear to seek updated weather information in flight.

This story was first reported by Boston Herald.