Medical Plane Missing with Six Passengers Off Massachusetts Coast
A Gulfstream G‑100 medical flight carrying six people vanished off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, leaving passengers and crew unaccounted for. Authorities have launched a search across the surrounding waters.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) notified the BBC that contact with the aircraft was lost after the flight had departed Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport at 23:40 local time and was scheduled to land at Boston’s Logan International Airport by 01:30 EDT.
The Coast Guard’s Northeast District confirmed that air and water searches are underway off Nantucket, the nearest island to the missing plane’s last known position.
Flight data from FlightAware shows the Gulfstream exited its holding pattern over the Atlantic, then dropped sharply in altitude from roughly 7,300 m (24,000 ft) to 3,300 m (11,000 ft) before communications ceased.
The aircraft belonged to Latitude Air Ambulances, a medical evacuation operator that transports patients across international borders. It remains unclear what caused the sudden descent.
Search teams are combing the ocean, deploying helicopters and drones, while investigators are examining flight logs and oceanographic data to determine where the aircraft might have gone down.
