US Coast Guard searches for medical jet with six aboard missing off Nantucket

Disappearance off Nantucket

The United States Coast Guard initiated a maritime and aerial search operation on Saturday off the coast of Massachusetts after a medical transfer aircraft carrying six people disappeared from radar. The aircraft, a Gulfstream G100 operated for emergency medical evacuation, was en route from Bermuda to Boston when controllers lost all contact with the flight crew. The Federal Aviation Administration notified maritime rescue coordinators early Saturday morning as soon as the plane vanished from monitoring screens. Search and rescue crews immediately deployed air and surface teams to ocean waters surrounding Nantucket, an island community located south of mainland Massachusetts. The flight was carrying six individuals across the North Atlantic corridor when radio communications abruptly ceased.

Radar loss and rapid descent

The twin-engine medical plane lost contact with air traffic control at 1:23 a.m. local time, exactly two minutes before its scheduled landing in Boston. Flight tracking data recorded an abrupt loss of altitude in the three minutes preceding the disappearance, with the plane descending rapidly from above 7,000 meters to below 3,500 meters over the water. The Federal Aviation Administration reported the loss of contact to the Coast Guard around 2:00 a.m., triggering an immediate emergency search mobilization. Weather observations recorded by Accuweather indicated clear skies across the Nantucket search area throughout Saturday morning. The absence of adverse weather focused initial search efforts directly along the aircraft's final projected approach corridor.

Medical evacuation operations

The missing jet was operated by Latitude Air Ambulance, a Canadian company that provides aeromedical evacuation and patient repatriation services to transport individuals to hospitals or their home countries. The company manages a fleet of ten aircraft, including four Gulfstream G100 models configured with intensive care unit equipment and medical supplies. Standard staffing for these aircraft includes two pilots alongside a flight nurse and a respiratory therapist, with specialized physicians joining select critical transports. Company guidelines state that the medical team focuses on in-flight intensive care and attending to patient companions within the aircraft cabin. Officials have not confirmed whether the six individuals aboard were entirely company staff or included a patient and family members.

Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations at Latitude Air Ambulance, confirmed the loss of the aircraft after alerting emergency agencies.

We are always very concerned when our crew does not check in with us at the expected time.

Togeretz stated that the failure of the crew to check in did not confirm that the worst had occurred, while declining to release additional flight details.

Search and rescue deployment

The United States Coast Guard deployed multiple search assets to the Atlantic waters off Nantucket, including fixed-wing search planes, a helicopter, and surface boats. Operations are centered on the maritime transit corridor between Nantucket and Bermuda, a British overseas territory situated roughly 1,000 kilometers off the North American coastline. Search crews are scanning the surface and coastal approaches where the plane registered its final radar return before communications cut out. Latitude Air Ambulance confirmed that it contacted search and rescue teams and law enforcement agencies immediately following the incident. Search vessels and aviation crews remain deployed across the North Atlantic search grid to locate the aircraft and its occupants.