Medical plane with 6 on board missing off Massachusetts coast

3 October 2026, 16: 56 BST. Updated 2 hours ago.

Key points

• FlightAware's tracker demonstrates the aircraft significantly dropped in altitude before its communications went dark, plummeting from around 7, 300m (24, 000ft) to 3, 300m (11, 000ft).
• An air and water search is underway off the coast of Nantucket, a Massachusetts island, according to the US Coast Guard's Northeast District.
• Among those on board were two pilots and two medical staff, both Canadian, Clarence Togeretz, director of flight operations at Latitude, informed CBC News.
• According to the tail number published by the Coast Guard, the plane belonged to Latitude Air Ambulances, a business that provides international medical flights for patients returning home.
• Radio transmissions demonstrates trouble with communications between the air traffic controller and the pilot, the Boston Globe noted based on transmissions provided by LiveATC.net.

US authorities are searching for six individuals after a medical plane bound for Boston, Massachusetts, went missing early Saturday morning.

In practice, the Federal Aviation Administration informed the BBC that it lost contact with the Gulfstream G-100 plane and put out a search-and-rescue notice just after 1: 00 local time (6: 00 GMT).

In practice, an air and water search is underway off the coast of Nantucket, a Massachusetts island, according to the US Coast Guard's Northeast District.

For context, the plane departed from Bermuda's L.F. Wade International Airport at 23: 40 local time, according to flight data from FlightAware, and was slated to land at Boston's Logan International at 1: 30 EDT (6: 30 GMT).

For context, the crew flew to Bermuda to collect a patient and their relative. This person are not Canadian, Togeretz remarked.

"You're coming in blind? Is that what you remarked?, " the air traffic controller asked. "Are you declaring an emergency, or no?" The pilot's response was inaudible.

"You're coming in a little weak so I didn't hear what your response was, if you were declaring an emergency or not, " the air traffic controller remarked, according to the Globe.

Notably, the air traffic controller afterwards confirmed the pilot had declared an emergency.

In practice, an area fire dispatcher asked emergency crews just after 1: 00 EDT to prepare to meet a plane with an "electrical issue". The dispatcher afterwards stated "the aircraft has lost radio and radar".

Taken together, the developments around medical plane with 6 on board missing off Massachusetts coast point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.