Nantucket, United States: The US Coast Guard has suspended the search for six people aboard a Canadian-operated medical transport aircraft that went down in the Atlantic Ocean off Nantucket, Massachusetts on October 3, 2026, after reporting electrical problems and losing radio and radar contact during a flight from Bermuda to Boston.
The Gulfstream G100, registration C-GRJP, was operating Latitude Air Ambulance’s Heartbeat 104 medical flight from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda to Boston Logan International Airport on October 3, 2026. The aircraft had flown to Bermuda to collect a patient and was carrying two Canadian pilots, two Canadian medical crew members, a Bermudian patient and a Bermudian family escort.
The aircraft departed Bermuda at about 12:41 a.m. local time. While approaching the US East Coast, the crew reported electrical problems and declared an emergency. Air traffic control recordings captured a controller asking, “You’re coming in blind? Is that what you said?” Communications then became difficult, with the aircraft eventually losing radio and radar contact.
Flight-tracking data showed the Gulfstream cruising at about 24,000 feet before making a rapid descent to approximately 11,000 feet within about three minutes. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a search-and-rescue alert at about 1:20 a.m., and the Coast Guard was notified around 2 a.m. after contact with the aircraft was lost.
Coast Guard crews later located a debris field about 20 miles off Nantucket in water approximately 80 to 90 feet deep and confirmed that it was associated with the missing aircraft. No survivors were located.
The search continued with Coast Guard aircraft, helicopters, boats and the cutter William Sparling, supported by the New York Air National Guard and other partner agencies. Crews searched approximately 4,445 miles over about 66 hours before the Coast Guard suspended the operation at sunset on October 4.
“Suspending a search is not an easy decision,” Rear Adm. Matthew Lake, commander of the Coast Guard’s Northeast District, said. “We express our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones affected by the tragedy and our gratitude for our partner agencies who helped support search efforts.”
Latitude Air Ambulance later said the four crew members, the patient and the family escort aboard Heartbeat 104 were presumed dead. “Given the information shared by authorities and the conclusion of the search-and-rescue phase, we must now face the heartbreaking reality” that those aboard had died, the company said.
The Coast Guard has transitioned from active search-and-rescue operations toward recovery efforts. Investigators are now expected to examine the aircraft’s final flight path, reported electrical problems, communications failure, rapid descent, weather and other factors. Authorities have not yet determined what caused the aircraft to crash.
The investigation will involve US and Canadian authorities, including the National Transportation Safety Board and Transportation Safety Board of Canada. Latitude Air Ambulance said it would cooperate with the investigation and recovery efforts.
