Cockpit Voice Recorder Recovered From Plane That Crashed South Of Nantucket

Canadian authorities investigating the crash of an air ambulance plane south of Nantucket in early October announced Monday that they had recovered the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder, along with a portion of the cockpit from the seafloor.

The Latitude Air Ambulance Gulfstream G100 aircraft crash occurred in international waters 20 miles south of Nantucket in the early morning hours of Oct. 3, claiming the lives of all six people on board. Since then, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada has led the investigation because the airline is based in Ontario and the crash occurred in international waters.

"The TSB, working in coordination with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Coast Guard, has recovered the upper third of the occurrence aircraft’s cockpit, as well as the cockpit voice recorder," the TSB announced on Monday. "Both will be transported to TSB’s Engineering Laboratory in Ottawa for further examination. The investigation is ongoing."

The recovery and salvage effort was led by the Cape Cod-based Coughlan Marine Contractors, which had assistance from several companies from around the region. They included ThayerMahan and Shoreline Diving from Connecticut, along with Marine Imaging Technology and Tow Boat US Cape Cod, which all collaborated with the TSB, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Canadian Coast Guard, according to James Coughlan, owner of Coughlan Marine Contractors. 

The aircraft had been traveling from Bermuda to Boston on a medical transport mission before the pilot declared an emergency and lost contact with air traffic controllers.

Last month, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed the identities of the six people who were on board the plane when it crashed off Nantucket. They include a mother and her son, both from Bermuda, and four Canadian air ambulance crew members.

The two Bermudian nationals were identified as Marilyn Lavonne Bean, 66, and her son, Sergio Wayne Lottimore, 41. The four Canadian crew members on the plane were employees of Latitude Air Ambulance, an Ontario-based company that provides transfers to and from healthcare facilities. The Coast Guard identified them on Monday as Philip Gregory Childerhose, Thomas Henry Farquhar, Sarah Jane Paton, and Jolene Beth Weir.

Flight data captured by online tracking apps 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.

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 the jet was communicating with the call sign “Heartbeat 104." Listen to the recordings here: