The U.S. Coast Guard is searching the waters off the East Coast after air traffic controllers lost contact with a Gulfstream jet with six people on board Saturday morning.
The Gulfstream G100 plane was flying from Bermuda to Boston during a medical evacuation, according to the Coast Guard. Latitude Air Ambulance operates the plane, according to NBC News. The company is based in Canada and operates medically equipped planes used to transport sick or injured patients, the company’s website states.
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The Massachusetts Port Authority said the aircraft didn’t arrive at Boston Logan International Airport when it was supposed to. Air traffic control audio that NBC News obtained appeared to capture a controller asking the pilots if they were “coming in blind.” Controllers then asked another plane to “attempt contact,” but it’s unclear if the other plane was successful.
“Our thoughts are with those on board and their loved ones as the search continues,” the port authority said in a statement.
What happened to the flight?
According to The New York Times, the plane departed from Bermuda’s lone airport at 11:41 p.m. ET on Friday. Flight data shows the plane was traveling normally at about 24,000 feet before descending several thousand feet at about 1:05 a.m. ET. An aviation expert The Times spoke to said the descent was abnormal.
“It’s clear they had something going wrong because they adjusted the speed just before the drop,” said Mary Schiavo, an aviation lawyer and former inspector general for the Department of Transportation. “They were responding to something.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said it issued a search and rescue notice at 1:20 a.m. ET.
The plane’s route took it north, away from the Bermuda Triangle, the region where dozens of planes and ships are said to have mysteriously disappeared.
The Coast Guard Northeast District said in a post on X that the search area is off the coast of Nantucket. Another post stated that two Coast Guard airplanes, a helicopter and two boats are assisting in the search.
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