For sale: JFK, Jr.'s first airplane

John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s first airplane, a 1977 Cessna 182Q Skylane, will be auctioned off next month to the highest bidder, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).

Kennedy completed his early flight training in the airplane, which he owned from April 1998 to May 1999. He kept it hangared at Essex County Airport, the same airport where he began the ill-fated trip on July 16, 1999 to Martha's Vineyard with his wife and sister-in-law in his Piper Saratoga II (see JFK Jr.'s Plane Reported Missing, 7/17/1999).

The auction will take place Sept. 9 at the Essex County Airport in Fairfield, NJ. According to AOPA, the aircraft is painted red, white, and blue and has the registration number 529JK as a tribute to his father, whose birthday was May 29.

Edited by David Robb
Managing Editor, Aerospace Online