Pilot spatial disorientation has been given as the probable cause of the Piper Saratoga crash in the sea off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA, in July 1999, in which John Kennedy Jr and two passengers died. The US National Transportation Safety Board accident report attributes the crash to "the pilot's [Kennedy's] failure to maintain control during a descent over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation. Factors were haze and the dark night".
Source: Flight International
