US authorities have recovered debris from a Gulfstream G-100 medical transport aircraft that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean off Massachusetts on Saturday morning with six people on board.
The Federal Aviation Administration lost contact with the plane at 01:00 local time on Saturday while it was traveling from Bermuda to Boston. The aircraft was operated by Latitude Air Ambulances, a company providing international medical flights. The plane belonged to the company and carried four Canadian nationals and two Bermudian nationals, the US Coast Guard said.
The US Coast Guard confirmed on Saturday night that search crews located a debris field from the aircraft off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Ships, helicopters and planes continued searching through the night.
The plane departed Bermuda's L.F. Wade International Airport at 23:40 local time Friday and was scheduled to land at Boston's Logan International at 01:30 EDT Saturday. According to Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations at Latitude, the crew included two pilots and two medical staff, both Canadian. They had traveled to Bermuda to retrieve a patient and the patient's relative.
FlightAware's tracker showed the aircraft dropped sharply in altitude before communications ceased, falling from around 24,000 feet to 11,000 feet. Radio transmissions revealed communication difficulties between the air traffic controller and the pilot. The Boston Globe reported that the air traffic controller asked the pilot whether they were declaring an emergency. The pilot confirmed they were declaring an emergency, according to the transmissions.
An area fire dispatcher requested emergency crews prepare to meet a plane with an electrical issue just after 01:00 EDT. The dispatcher subsequently reported that "the aircraft has lost radio and radar."
The Coast Guard said it would provide an update Sunday morning local time.