Coast Guard Searching For Missing Plane In Waters South Of Nantucket

A search is underway Saturday morning 13 nautical miles south of Nantucket for a Gulfstream aircraft that was carrying six people.

The FAA reported losing contact with the aircraft early Saturday morning, according to the Coast Guard. The Gulfstream G100 (tail #CGRJP) air ambulance was traveling from Bermuda to Boston.

The aircraft is registered to Latitude Air Ambulance, a company based in Ontario, Canada which provides transfers to and from healthcare facilities. The plane was carrying four crew members from Canada, according to the Toronto Star, along with a patient and their escort.

According to Nantucket Memorial Airport, the aircraft declared an emergency before losing contact with air traffic control south of the island. 

Coast Guard Station Brant Point launched its 47-foot motor lifeboat from Nantucket Harbor to participate in the search, according to master chief John Lowell. The crew from Station Brant Point joined numerous other Coast Guard assets that are searching the waters south of the island, including an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft from Air Station Cape Cod, a C-130 Hercules from Air Station Elizabeth City, and the 154-foot cutter William Sparling. 

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. The FAA is coordinating with the Rescue Coordination Center and the U.S. Coast Guard to locate the aircraft.

On land, Nantucket Police and Nantucket Harbormaster personnel were searching for the aircraft along the south shore. 

"We have an ATV and a truck doing shoreline searches with NPD," Harbormaster Sheila Lucey told the Current. "Our crews will respond to inshore incidents so the Coast Guard can focus their efforts offshore."

Here is the flight track of the Gulfstream, according to the monitoring app FlightRadar24

And this is the flight path of a Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft that is participating in the search. Lowell said the crew from Station Brant Point is also searching in this area:

"At this time, search and rescue efforts are being led by the United States Coast Guard," Nantucket Memorial Airport manager Preston Harimon said in a statement released to the media. "The airport has been informed that the aircraft reportedly declared an emergency prior to the loss of contact; however, details regarding the circumstances of the incident remain unconfirmed. Nantucket Memorial Airport will not speculate on the cause of the event and will defer all operational and investigative information to the appropriate federal authorities. Search efforts continued overnight and remain ongoing. Nantucket Memorial Airport continues to operate normally, and all airport services and scheduled operations remain unaffected."

"The Nantucket Police Department was made aware of the missing airplane very early Saturday morning by the FAA," Nantucket Police Department Lt. Angus MacVicar said. "We were requested to check the Nantucket Memorial Airport for the missing plane and also the southern shoreline. We were not able to locate the missing plane. We have been monitoring the southern shoreline on ATV with both police and Harbor Master’s Office staff since sunrise."