Posted on 10/04/2026 8:51:49 AM PDT by DFG
A debris field from the plane that went missing off Nantucket early Saturday morning has been located in the waters south of the island by the U.S. Coast Guard.
After searching 1,644 square miles, the Coast Guard announced late Saturday night that it had confirmed the debris field was linked to the Gulfstream G100 aircraft that had been traveling from Bermuda to Boston before declaring an emergency and losing contact with air traffic controllers.
Aboard the plane were six people, including four Canadian nationals and two Bermudian nationals, the Coast Guard stated. The aircraft was registered to Latitude Air Ambulance, a company based in Ontario, Canada, which provides transfers to and from healthcare facilities. The Toronto Star reported that the plane was carrying four crew members from Canada along with a patient and their escort, but they have not yet been publicly identified.
During a press conference in Boston Sunday morning, the Coast Guard stated that the search for those six people would continue.
The debris field was located 20 miles south of the island, where the water depth is 80 to 90 feet.
The massive search conducted south of the island on Saturday included crews from Station Brant Point, who were seen off Surfside Beach early Saturday afternoon and were at sea most of the day.
he situation began when the FAA issued a search and rescue alert notice for the Gulfstream G-100 around 1:20 a.m. Saturday morning, an FAA spokesperson told the Current. The flight departed from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda and was headed to Boston Logan International Airport.
There were numerous Coast Guard stations and and other agencies that deployed assets to assist the search, including:
An HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod An HC-130 Hercules crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crews from Coast Guard Station Brant Point The crew of Coast Guard Cutter William Sparling, a Boston-based Fast Response Cutter Two HH-60 helicopter crews from the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing An HC-130 aircraft from the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing On land, Nantucket Police and Nantucket Harbormaster personnel were searching for the aircraft along the south shore, but have not found any debris from the crash.
"Both police and harbor master staff were on the beach on ATV’s at 8:00 a.m.," Nantucket Police Department Lt. Angus MacVicar told the Current Sunday morning. "We will continue to monitor the southern shoreline throughout the day."
As the search continued into Saturday afternoon, two of the Coast Guard aircraft broke off from their grid pattern and started circling over an area approximately 25 miles south of Nantucket until sunset.
Later Saturday night, two U.S. Air Force helicopters were on radar flying a grid pattern even farther south.
What caused the apparent crash?
Flight data showed the air ambulance cruising to Boston at 24,000 feet before dropping at least 9,000 feet over two minutes as it approached Nantucket from the south. It then leveled off before disappearing. According to Nantucket Memorial Airport, the aircraft declared an emergency before losing contact.
Some of its transmissions with air traffic controllers were captured by LiveATC.net and indicated there may have been an electrical issue.
On the recording, one of the air traffic controllers asks the pilot of the Gulfstream air ambulance, "You said you're coming in blind?"
The crew from from the jet was communicating with the call sign “Heartbeat 104." Listen to the recordings here:
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Wasn’t an air ambulance type plane that crashed in Pennsylvania last year?
“coming in blind?”
Smoke in the cockpit / cabin?
That was a Lear Jet outside Philly.
“coming in blind?”
Smoke in the cockpit / cabin?
Likely instrument / navigation failure given they reported an electrical issue. Had there been enough smoke to prevent the pilots seeing out the windscreen, I imagine they would have reported a fire.
Sad.
They probably lost instruments going into a storm. The weather was very bad along their flight path.
There was an incident at a private airport near me some years ago. A friend that flies his own place from there told me these incidents happen more than people realize. Most cases, people aren’t hurt or minor injuries. Sometimes it’s worse. Said these stories usually don’t make the news.
FL 240 puts you right into the center of the wx.
HC-144 Ocean Sentry new to me
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EADS_HC-144_Ocean_Sentry
The EADS HC-144 Ocean Sentry is a medium-range, twin-engined turboprop aircraft used by the United States Coast Guard in the search-and-rescue and maritime patrol missions. Based on the CASA CN-235, it was procured as a “Medium Range Surveillance Aircraft.” The HC-144 is supplied by Airbus Group, Inc, formerly EADS North America, and is built in Spain by CASA and Indonesia by IPTN.
Sadly , the weather did them in.
Where is the dei brigade,denouncing women pilots....
If Charles Berlitz were still alive he would be blaming it on the Bermuda Triangle moving North.
Back around 1981 or so,I took his list and marked where each ship or plane disappeared. Very few were in the Bermuda Triangle.
But many air disasters happen in bad weather.
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