According to a report issued in 2000 by the National Transportation Safety Board, John F. Kennedy, Jr.’s plane crash off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard on July 16, 1999, was caused by the pilot’s failure to maintain control during a descent over water at night, influenced by spatial disorientation because of haze and darkness. Kennedy, who was the pilot, was flying his own six-seat, single-engine, low-wing Piper Saratoga plane.