On July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. died when the light aircraft he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Kennedy's wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, were also on board and died. The Piper Saratoga departed from New Jersey's Essex County Airport; its intended route was along the coastline of Connecticut and across Rhode Island Sound to Martha's Vineyard Airport.