AQUINNAH, Mass. -- The wreckage of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane was located off the coast of Martha's Vineyard with Kennedy's body still aboard, and the Navy readied a recovery mission, government officials and family sources said Wednesday.
"They've got the fuselage and John Kennedy's in it," a government source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press. The White House confirmed that Kennedy's plane and a body had been found.A source close to the scene said federal officials did not want to provide an identity of a badly mangled body aboard until a coroner could examine the body. He said there were no immediate reports of the bodies of Kennedy's wife and sister-in-law, who also were on board the plane when it crashed Friday night.
Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Richard Larrabee, who was overseeing the search, canceled a round of morning TV appearances and went to the USS Grasp, the ship where the wreckage was to be deposited after being raised from the ocean floor.
The heightened activity took place after ships from the Navy, Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spent Tuesday night scouring a site 7 1/2 miles southwest of the Martha's Vineyard coast, a spot that investigators had speculated was the likely splash point for the plane.
It crashed while carrying Kennedy, 38, his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, 33, and her sister Lauren Bessette, 34.
The fuselage was first spotted at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the safety board, and subsequent investigation confirmed that it was Kennedy's airplane.
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said the discovery was made with remote cameras. The Grasp was being repositioned so divers could go down and assist with the recovery, a senior administration official said.
"The highest priority remains locating and recovering the remains of all three," Lockhart said.
The Bessette family had no comment on the discovery of Kennedy's body, said Grant Stinchfield, a family friend.
The Kennedy family was notified of the discovery in the early morning hours, a family source said. They have discussed a range of options for handling the remains, including the possibility of a burial at sea.
No dates or details have been completed, said a family source.
"Several options are being discussed. No decisions have been made," the family source said. Stinchfield said the Bessettes were working with the Kennedys on plans for a service. Nothing has been finalized, he said.
Several experienced pilots who flew into the Vineyard on Friday night said the hazy skies and darkness were challenging even for them. Kennedy obtained his pilot's license in April 1998.
At a briefing Tuesday, Robert Pearce, who is heading the investigation for the NTSB, gave a more detailed explanation of the approach.
All seemed fine about 34 miles from the airport, with the plane descending from 5,600 feet to about 2,300 feet at a slightly faster-than-normal rate of 700 feet per minute.
About 20 miles from the airport, the plane started turning to the right and climbing back to 2,600 feet. After leveling off, it flew for a short time before beginning another turn to the right and starting "a rapid rate of descent" that may have exceeded 5,000 feet per minute, or about 10 times faster than normal.
The descent was 3,000 feet per minute faster than what would be a stressful approach for even the most experienced flier, experts said.
Pearce would not speculate on the damage caused by such a crash but said: "I'm sure you can draw a conclusion by the debris we've been bringing in, which is fragmented."
On the fourth full day of the search, the FAA acknowledged it was asked in a phone call from an intern at the Martha's Vineyard airport to help locate the plane Friday night.
The caller, 21-year-old Adam Budd, expressed no great urgency as he telephoned an FAA station in Bridgeport, Conn., at 10:05 p.m. Friday, FAA officials said.