New Book Revisits Five-Day Coast Guard Search for JFK Jr.'s Plane
A new book tells the story of the search for John F. Kennedy Jr.'s missing plane from the side of the Coast Guard crews who looked for it.
The book is The Last Flight: The Untold Story of the Search for JFK Jr. and the Race Against the Atlantic. Harper Select is publishing it on October 13, 2026, according to Business Wire. An excerpt appeared in Town & Country.
In the summer of 1999, Kennedy, his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette took off in a private plane. Kennedy was 38. Carolyn was 33. The aircraft crashed into the sea on July 17 off the coast of Massachusetts, killing all three aboard.
The excerpt opens in the first hours after the plane was reported missing. Just past 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 17, Lieutenant Craig Jaramillo called the captain to report that Kennedy's airplane was missing. The narrator drove three minutes from his quarters at Nobska Lighthouse to Group Woods Hole, the Coast Guard unit now called Sector Southeastern New England.
The search that followed covered more than 1,000 square miles and lasted five days. Fifty-one aircraft from all services and 18 surface vessels took part. Coast Guard reservists volunteered for the search-and-recovery effort.
The book was written by Russell "Russ" Webster and historian Theresa Mitchell Webster, who are married. Theresa Mitchell Webster is a maritime historian, according to People. The authors describe the book as an inside account of the operation to locate the missing aircraft and recover its passengers.
One detail from the recovery has drawn attention. Kennedy's body was found 10 feet from his plane, with Carolyn and Lauren still inside.
What makes this stand out is the vantage point. Much has been written about the Kennedys and Bessettes. This account stays with the searchers and the decisions made during five days on the Atlantic.
