Coast Guard searches for missing air ambulance off Nantucket

• The Gulfstream G100, operated by Ontario-based Latitude Air Ambulance, was travelling from Bermuda to Boston with six people aboard.
• Four occupants were Canadian crew members; the other two were a Bermudian patient and a family member.
• The Coast Guard was searching south of Nantucket with aircraft, a helicopter and a motor lifeboat.
• Radio and flight-tracking reports describe an emergency and a sharp descent, but do not establish why the plane lost contact.

A medical jet carrying a patient, a family member and four crew members went missing over the Atlantic early on Saturday, prompting a search south of Nantucket. The aircraft, registered C-GRJP, was operated by Latitude Air Ambulance, based in Hamilton, Ontario. It had left Bermuda for Boston. ^{1 2}

The plane departed L.F. Wade International Airport at about 11.41pm on Friday, Eastern Daylight Time. Flight-tracking data reviewed by The Boston Globe showed it descending sharply before controllers lost contact. Accounts differ on the figures: the Globe reported a drop of about 13,000 feet in three minutes, while NPR described a descent of at least 9,000 feet over two minutes, followed by several minutes at a lower altitude. ^{2 3}

Air-traffic-control audio reviewed by the Globe includes a controller asking the pilot whether the plane was “coming in blind”. The recording does not capture the pilot’s reply. The Associated Press reported that a controller later confirmed the pilot was declaring an emergency shortly before contact was lost. Reports also describe electrical problems and the loss of radio and radar contact; none establishes what caused the descent or what happened to the aircraft afterwards. ^{2 1}

The search focused on waters south of Nantucket, about 13 nautical miles from the island, according to local reporting. By 6.31pm EDT on Saturday, the Coast Guard was still searching with two search-and-rescue aircraft, a helicopter and a motor lifeboat, NPR reported. ^{4 3}

The aircraft did not arrive at Boston Logan as scheduled. Its six occupants were identified by Latitude’s operations manager as four Canadian crew members and two Bermudian nationals: the patient and a family member. Their names had not been reported in the sources available by Saturday evening. ^{5 2}

Footnotes

1. Associated Press, “Coast Guard searching for plane with 6 aboard that lost contact on a trip from Bermuda to Boston”. ↩ ↩²

2. The Boston Globe, “‘You’re coming in blind?’ Medical plane flying to Boston from Bermuda goes missing off Nantucket”. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. NPR/WWNO, “Coast Guard searching for missing medical plane carrying 6 people”. ↩ ↩²

4. Nantucket Current, “Coast Guard Search Underway For Plane In Waters South Of Nantucket”. ↩

5. Global News, “Ontario-based air ambulance carrying 6 missing off U.S. coast”. ↩