By: Alex Mercer – SeaPRwire – A medical flight reported an electrical problem and then vanished from radar. The Gulfstream G100 left Bermuda with a patient and five others. Near Boston the crew called the power failure. The aircraft dropped thirteen thousand feet in roughly two minutes and never answered again. Debris was later found off Nantucket. Six people are presumed dead. That sequence is the only public record so far.
On 5 October the Canadian Transportation Safety Board announced it would lead the investigation into the crash that occurred on 3 October near the coast of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. The aircraft was a Gulfstream G100 operated by Latitude Air Ambulance, a company based in Ontario, Canada. The operator stated that the six people on board—four Canadian crew members, one patient and one accompanying caregiver—are all presumed to have died. The flight departed Bermuda. As it approached the Boston area the crew reported an electrical failure. The aircraft then descended rapidly and lost contact with air traffic control south of Nantucket. Under international agreements the investigation is led by the state of registry, which is Canada; United States agencies will provide assistance. The Canadian board said it would dispatch investigators in the coming days and would help with the search and recovery of the aircraft. United States flight-tracking data showed that shortly before contact was lost the aircraft descended thirteen thousand feet, approximately three thousand nine hundred and sixty-two metres, in about two minutes. The United States Coast Guard later reported finding aircraft debris near the Nantucket shore and confirmed the wreckage was related to the missing flight.
The first hard data will come from the recovered recorders and from the electrical system components themselves. Until those pieces are examined the reported power failure remains an unverified crew statement. Medical evacuation flights operate under tight time constraints and often in marginal weather. The single electrical report is therefore the pivot on which every subsequent finding will turn. Track the recovery of the cockpit voice and flight data recorders. That is the next measurable step.
Author bio: Alex Mercer, senior commentator for an international technology weekly covering aviation safety and emergency medical flight operations.