Ontario-based air ambulance jet missing off U.S. coast. Company confirms 4 Canadian staff aboard - Toronto Star

The flight was an active medevac with a patient and family escort on board, along with two pilots and two medical staff, Latitude Air Ambulance confirmed.

Hamilton-based Latitude Air Ambulance’s fleet of four Gulfstream G100 jets. The U.S. Coast Guard says it is searching for the jet C-GRJP, second from the bottom.

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a Hamilton-based air ambulance jet carrying six people that went missing off the coast of Nantucket early Saturday.

The jet C-GRJP is a Gulfstream G100 registered to Latitude Air Ambulance, based in Hamilton, Ont. Latitude confirmed to the Star that the four crew on board are Canadian.

“We’re remaining optimistically positive. You might see it’s missing, but we’re just saying that we’ve lost communication with it,” said Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations for Latitude.

The flight “was an active medevac with a patient and family escort on board and four of our crew members, two pilots and two medical staff,” Togeretz said.

The Federal Aviation Administration lost contact with the flight early Saturday morning. 

According to the Coast Guard’s Northeastern District’s X account, air and surface crews have launched in search of the aircraft, which was travelling from Bermuda to Boston.

Togeretz said the flight lost contact around 1:30 a.m., about 20 minutes outside its destination, Boston’s Logan International Airport. 

He said he remains hopeful all aboard will be rescued. 

Togeretz noted flight records show the plane had to make a rapid descent, “but it looks like a stable descent and a stabilized flight after that, so we’re not sure exactly what happened after the lost communication.”

According to the company’s website, Latitude operates a fleet of four G100 aircraft. The company says the planes are the longest-range dedicated medevac aircraft in North America, with a range of 5,000 km.

A typical flight includes a registered nurse and a registered respiratory therapist, with a physician included on some missions, the website says.

According to the website flightradar24.com, the Latitude jet’s previous flight was from Hamilton, Ont., to Bermuda on Friday evening.

Records from Flightradar24 show a pair of Coast Guard planes conducting an apparent search pattern about 10 kilometres south of Nantucket Island, which is itself about 50 kilometres off the U.S. mainland.

A search pattern conducted by a U.S. Coast Guard airplane.

Togeretz said the company is waiting for an update from the U.S. Coast Guard. 

“We haven’t heard anything yet,” he said. 

Air traffic recordings from the website liveatc.net from Saturday morning show the plane, which had the call sign Heartbeat 104, reported coming in “blind.”

In the audio, a New York-based controller indicates having trouble hearing the pilots, while asking if they were declaring an emergency.

The controller can be heard repeatedly trying to contact the flight over several minutes.

According to Dan Gustin, chief instructor at Canadian Flight Trainers, the descent may have been a sign the pilot was trying to troubleshoot an issue. 

“From what I saw, it was at 24,000 feet and rapidly descended to 11,000, and I am speculating, but that’s an altitude that you’re just going to chill out, in case of something like a depressurization. It’s an intermediate altitude where you would just stop and figure things out, but the fact that the airplane disappeared off radar after that point is unheard of,” said Gustin. 

He said that there are all kinds of potential causes, and that it is likely going to take a fair amount of time for investigators to figure out what happened, especially considering the location where the plane went missing over water.

Latitude’s website says the company’s partners include the Ontario Ministry of Health and Ornge, which operates air ambulance service for the province.

“Our thoughts are with our colleagues at Latitude Air Ambulance at this time,” Ornge said in a post on X.

“All of us at Ornge are hopeful the aircraft and all passengers are located safely and quickly.”

At 11:45 a.m. on Saturday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard said on X that the search was ongoing, detailing that equipment including two aircraft, a helicopter, a search-and-rescue lifeboat and a Coast Guard cutter were involved in the rescue efforts

Friday, Oct. 2, 7:15 p.m. — The Gulfstream G100 jet C-GRJP departs Hamilton, Ont., for Bermuda, arriving at 10:45 p.m.

11:42 p.m. — The jet departs Bermuda’s L.F. Ward Airport, with a scheduled two-and-a-half-hour flight time to Boston’s Logan International Airport. The medevac flight is carrying four Canadian employees of Latitude Air Ambulance, including two pilots and two medical staff, as well as a patient and an accompanying passenger.

Saturday, 1:05 a.m. — Data from the website flightaware.com shows the jet descending about 11,000 feet before resuming stable flight.

Around 1:10 a.m. — Pilots contact air traffic control. In recordings, a controller says he is having problems hearing the pilots and repeatedly asks if they are declaring an emergency.

Around 1:30 a.m. — The U.S. FAA loses contact with the plane about 20 minutes from its destination.

6:20 a.m. — The U.S. Coast Guard says it is searching for the jet south of Nantucket Island.

11:45 a.m. — The Coast Guard says the search is ongoing, involving two aircraft, a helicopter, a search-and-rescue lifeboat, and a Coast Guard cutter.

Raju Mudhar is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering breaking news. Reach him via email: rmudhar@thestar.ca