Washington - US federal investigators have concluded that the July 16th plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr, his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister was due to pilot error on his part, Fox News Channel reported yesterday.
Fox quoted sources close to the investigation as saying that no mechanical problems had been found with the single-engine plane Kennedy was flying, and investigators now believed the crash was caused by his inexperience as a pilot.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, in which Kennedy's Piper Saratoga II plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, killing all three people aboard. NTSB spokeswoman Lauren Peduzzi would say only: "We have not made a probable cause determination."
A finding by the NTSB that Kennedy, the son of former President John F. Kennedy, was responsible for the crash could bolster plans by the family of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister, Ms Lauren Bessette, to file a wrongful death or negligence lawsuit against Kennedy's estate.
Fox News said it learned that Kennedy's sister, Ms Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, had offered the Bessette family $10 million to avert a lawsuit. It quoted a source close to the Bessette family as saying that family members believed a settlement could be reached and had decided not to proceed with a lawsuit.