Debris Field From Missing Plane Found South Of Nantucket

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 identified.

The Coast Guard stated the search for those six people would continue, and one of its cutters, the William Sparling, would remain south of the island overnight.

"Next of kin have been notified," the Coast Guard stated.

A press conference is scheduled for Sunday morning in Boston.

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.

The 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.

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: