Paul, I remember well the day that JFK Jr. crashed, too. More specifically, I remember the weather. I was flying a trip as a corporate pilot to Teterboro, one of our regular runs from Richmond. The day was VERY hazy, more so than your typical hazy summer day. It was really IFR with no visible horizon. By the time JFK Jr. took off, he was committing himself to a night flight with no visible horizon partially over open water. That’s not something an experienced instrument pilot would want to do in a single engine airplane under VFR rules. Maybe he didn’t realize that just because it gets dark, the haze doesn’t go away.