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The Final Hour: The JFK Jr. Tragedy
When 3 people board a small private plane at twilight, buckle their seatbelts for a flight from, Essex county, N.J. to Martha's Vineyard, Ma., a 200 mile flight, who knows what thoughts each one has going through their minds. After going through the rigors of the day, packing their clothes, and driving to the airport in a terrible traffic jam, it would seem relaxing just to take a deep breath, and sit down in a comfortable seat. Relaxing, except for the fact that everyone has some fear of flying and more conceivable, a fear of the unknown. We all wonder what went thru the minds of those on board, in THAT FINAL HOUR. Especially since the pilot, one of the 3 people on board was, J. F. K. Jr., son of the beloved John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States of America.This book attempts to illustrate what that final hour may have been like through recalling the exciting flying experiences of a less prominent private pilot , with some 20 plus years of flying experience. This book should answer many of your questions about what happened that tragic night.
172 pages, Paperback
First published March 28, 2003
19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 3, 2025
[Overall Score: ••2.2-2.6••]
This novel is hard to "really like" or "love it." It is an extremely dry piece of literary work. A structual editor could have greatly helped this novel. It's 160 pages long, the first 60 are all personal stories of the novelist. Overall, this was done to give credibility to his own opinion. These stories were interesting, yes, but JFK Jr. is not even mentioned in the first 60 pages. Usually, if a person has experiences that hold revalence to the subject matter, they typically write something to the effect of "after this experience, I personally believe Jack Jr., may have experienced something similar", but we don't get any of that (instead it's just.....here's my experience, try remember it when we finally get to the crash, type of vibe). Also, there were "mucho" stories that held no worth to the "Final Hour" of JFK Jr's life. [Aka: stories of the writer's first wife, how he got his wings, how he was in a friend group of solo (romantically-unpartnered) pilots, how he met his 2nd wife, the first time she got scared in a plane with and lastly, the most important thing in the novel, how he, with a group of friends went skinny dipping on the east coast; while he worried about the weather]. How all the things the novelist talks about relates to JFK Jr. is quite a mind-bender.
After the writers personal stories, the reader finally gets to the subject matter of the books title. To be fair, this reader, after reading, knows more aviation terms and understands more of what it takes to one, fly and two, in a sense the paperwork/communication need for safe air travel. Yet this bogs the story down. Acronyms are everywhere. Yes, they are explained but used in an abundance, to where what they represent, become hazy. Graphs could have helped the presentation of this novel. Upon reading the final page, it's hard to know what the writers opinion really is, considering his opinion is given about 40+ pages earlier.
Though knowledge was obtained from reading this book, it still felt like it needed a companion book [sic: "Aviation For Dummies"]. However, the writer believes due to lack of communication, due to JFK Jr. lack of night flying experience, as well a Spatial Disorientation, the flight ended in death. Personally, this reviewer would have liked a final stance from the writer towards the very final pages. As well, Mr. Pecker discusses very little of the recovery process and the extraction process of the plane (especially incompairsion to how detailed weather report he gives to readers).
Overall, this was a very poorly constructed book. It feels like it was written in segments. Half of it reads as a "compare and contrast" paper and an article that should have been published in an aviation magazine about his flying experience. The last 50+ pages were a crime scene disertation, which again pulls the reader further away from joining the authors opinions.
If you like dry, technical works this novel might fufill you. However, this reviewer will not be recommending this novel. Furthermore, it's too sloppy to hold a 5 star rating. This book did not read as a historical piece, nor does it read as an opinion piece. It reads more like a narrative and in a sense, an autopsy report. There is no doubt worth in this novel, but its not much. It's hard to recommend a novel called "The Final Hour: The JFK Jr. tragedy", when Little Jack isn't even mentioned in any capacity until 60+ pages in. 20+ in might have been acceptable. But this showcases the jumbled nature of this book.
This novel is hard to "really like" or "love it." It is an extremely dry piece of literary work. A structual editor could have greatly helped this novel. It's 160 pages long, the first 60 are all personal stories of the novelist. Overall, this was done to give credibility to his own opinion. These stories were interesting, yes, but JFK Jr. is not even mentioned in the first 60 pages. Usually, if a person has experiences that hold revalence to the subject matter, they typically write something to the effect of "after this experience, I personally believe Jack Jr., may have experienced something similar", but we don't get any of that (instead it's just.....here's my experience, try remember it when we finally get to the crash, type of vibe). Also, there were "mucho" stories that held no worth to the "Final Hour" of JFK Jr's life. [Aka: stories of the writer's first wife, how he got his wings, how he was in a friend group of solo (romantically-unpartnered) pilots, how he met his 2nd wife, the first time she got scared in a plane with and lastly, the most important thing in the novel, how he, with a group of friends went skinny dipping on the east coast; while he worried about the weather]. How all the things the novelist talks about relates to JFK Jr. is quite a mind-bender.
After the writers personal stories, the reader finally gets to the subject matter of the books title. To be fair, this reader, after reading, knows more aviation terms and understands more of what it takes to one, fly and two, in a sense the paperwork/communication need for safe air travel. Yet this bogs the story down. Acronyms are everywhere. Yes, they are explained but used in an abundance, to where what they represent, become hazy. Graphs could have helped the presentation of this novel. Upon reading the final page, it's hard to know what the writers opinion really is, considering his opinion is given about 40+ pages earlier.
Though knowledge was obtained from reading this book, it still felt like it needed a companion book [sic: "Aviation For Dummies"]. However, the writer believes due to lack of communication, due to JFK Jr. lack of night flying experience, as well a Spatial Disorientation, the flight ended in death. Personally, this reviewer would have liked a final stance from the writer towards the very final pages. As well, Mr. Pecker discusses very little of the recovery process and the extraction process of the plane (especially incompairsion to how detailed weather report he gives to readers).
Overall, this was a very poorly constructed book. It feels like it was written in segments. Half of it reads as a "compare and contrast" paper and an article that should have been published in an aviation magazine about his flying experience. The last 50+ pages were a crime scene disertation, which again pulls the reader further away from joining the authors opinions.
If you like dry, technical works this novel might fufill you. However, this reviewer will not be recommending this novel. Furthermore, it's too sloppy to hold a 5 star rating. This book did not read as a historical piece, nor does it read as an opinion piece. It reads more like a narrative and in a sense, an autopsy report. There is no doubt worth in this novel, but its not much. It's hard to recommend a novel called "The Final Hour: The JFK Jr. tragedy", when Little Jack isn't even mentioned in any capacity until 60+ pages in. 20+ in might have been acceptable. But this showcases the jumbled nature of this book.
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