A multi-agency search and rescue operation is actively ongoing off the coast of Massachusetts, United States, after a medical aircraft carrying six people vanished from air traffic control radars in the early hours of Saturday. The incident unfolded when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lost all communication contact with the Gulfstream G-100 aircraft shortly after 1 a.m. local time, prompting officials to immediately issue an urgent alert for search teams to mobilize. According to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Northeast District, the search area is concentrated in waters surrounding Nantucket, a small island located off Massachusetts’ southeastern coast.
Flight tracking data from industry platform FlightAware outlines the plane’s final journey: the aircraft departed Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport at 11:40 p.m. local time Friday, on a scheduled flight bound for Boston Logan International Airport, with an expected arrival time of 1:30 a.m. EDT Saturday. Records from the flight tracker show that in the moments before contact was lost, the plane suffered a dramatic, sudden loss of altitude, plummeting from a cruising height of approximately 7,300 meters (24,000 feet) to just 3,300 meters (11,000 feet) before all signals went dark.
Coast Guard officials confirmed that the plane, identified by its registered tail number, is owned and operated by Latitude Air Ambulances, a company specialized in arranging and operating international medical evacuation flights that transport patients back to their home countries for ongoing care. As of the latest updates, search teams combining air assets and coastal cutters are combing the targeted area, with no debris or signs of the missing aircraft or passengers having been reported as found. The cause of the disappearance remains under preliminary investigation by aviation safety officials.