The state medical examiner said the three died instantly on impact from traumatic injuries. As the week unfolded, radar data revealed details of the flight's final moments. In the hours after the plane was reported missing, a Coast Guard spokesman told reporters the search for Kennedy's airplane would be no different from any other. Other agencies insisted that was true. Sandy Troeber of the USAF's rescue coordination center.
Every life is as important as the next.
But by the time the SAR operation was over, it had included more than 12 Coast Guard vessels, CAP volunteers from six states, two NOAA ocean-floor survey ships, ANG choppers with infrared sensors, two Navy ships and 30 divers. About the only official not pretending that all this was routine was President Clinton, who said he okayed the extraordinary efforts because of the Kennedys' long history of tragedy and their place in U.S. history. In the days after the crash, Bruce Holmes, manager of NASA's GA program, urged continued research and development of technology to help pilots fly more safely. Holmes said advanced systems could make GA more than twice as safe within 10 years. Pilot Insurance Center President Bill Fanning echoed Holmes' predictions, noting that 1998 was the safest year in GA history and 1999 is on track to beat it.