A Canadian-registered air ambulance carrying six people disappeared over the Atlantic near Nantucket after the pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency while flying from Bermuda to Massachusetts. The aircraft had four crew members and two passengers aboard when it departed L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda overnight. The US Coast Guard later said search teams had found a debris field off the coast of Nantucket, while authorities continued efforts to establish what happened to the aircraft.

Air traffic control audio posted by LiveATC.net captured the exchange between the pilot and a US controller shortly before contact was lost. The pilot's transmission was difficult to hear clearly, but the controller is heard asking, “Roger, you said you’re coming in blind. Is that what you said?” The controller later confirmed that the pilot was declaring an emergency. The exchange indicated that the aircraft was experiencing problems as it approached the US coast, although the precise nature of the emergency remains under investigation.

The aircraft was a Gulfstream G100 travelling from Bermuda towards Massachusetts, according to Skyport, the operator of Bermuda's L.F. Wade International Airport. Preliminary data from flight tracking service FlightRadar24 showed that the aircraft descended sharply from an altitude of around 24,000 feet to approximately 10,000 feet. The descent occurred as a storm was present ahead of the aircraft, but the available information does not establish whether the weather directly caused the aircraft to disappear.

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Mary Schiavo, a former Inspector General of the US Transportation Department and an aviation attorney, said the aircraft may have lost its navigational instruments as the storm moved across its route. She explained that losing instruments in severe weather could leave a pilot disoriented and make it difficult to determine whether the aircraft was turning, climbing or descending. Schiavo said the combination of a major altitude drop, a storm and a possible loss of instruments would have created a dangerous situation, though her comments were presented as an assessment rather than a confirmed cause.

The Federal Aviation Administration reported that contact with the Gulfstream G100 was lost very early Saturday morning, prompting the US Coast Guard to launch a search operation. Coast Guard crews searched for the aircraft using both air and surface resources in the area off Nantucket. The Coast Guard later confirmed that searchers had located a debris field off the Massachusetts coast, providing the first significant physical evidence in the search for the missing aircraft.

Four of the six people aboard the air ambulance were Canadian nationals, Canada's Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said. He added that Transport Canada was closely monitoring the situation and working with authorities involved in search and rescue efforts. The aircraft had been travelling from Bermuda to Massachusetts when the emergency was declared, and authorities are continuing to examine the circumstances surrounding the electrical problems, sharp descent, loss of communication and discovery of the debris field.

Also Read: Coast Guard Hunts Missing Gulfstream Jet Carrying Six