6 Aboard Medical Jet That Vanished Near Nantucket Identified
Authorities have released the names of all six people aboard a Canadian medical jet that vanished off Nantucket over the weekend, after the search for survivors was called off.
The Gulfstream G100, operated by Ontario-based Latitude Air Ambulance, was flying from Bermuda to Boston early Saturday, October 3, when it lost contact with air traffic controllers. Everyone on board is now presumed dead.
Who Was on Board
The U.S. Coast Guard identified the two passengers as Marilyn Lavonne Bean, 66, and her son, Sergio Wayne Lottimore, 41, both of Bermuda. Bean was the patient being transported, and Lottimore was traveling with her as a family escort.
The four Canadian crew members were Capt. Philip Gregory Childerhose, First Officer Thomas Henry Farquhar, flight nurse Sarah Jane Paton and respiratory therapist Jolene Beth Weir, according to The Canadian Press.
Lottimore was a senior vice president at Hamilton Reinsurance Bermuda and a 2002 graduate of Warwick Academy. His former school called him an "outstanding person," and Hamilton Re remembered him as a "respected leader, colleague and friend," WBUR reported.
Electrical Trouble Before the Plane Went Down
The jet, flying as Heartbeat 104, departed L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda late Friday night and was due to land at Boston Logan International Airport around 1:30 a.m.
The jet had been in the air for about an hour and 45 minutes when trouble began. As it neared the coast, the pilot reported electrical problems and declared an emergency. Flight-tracking data showed the plane quickly dropping from about 24,000 feet to roughly 11,000 feet before contact was lost, according to CBS News.
In the final radio exchanges, a controller asked the pilot, "You're coming in blind? Is that what you said? Are you declaring an emergency, or no?" The reply could not be heard. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a search-and-rescue alert at about 1:20 a.m.
A storm was developing in the area at the time, according to WBUR.
Search Called Off After Debris Found
Searchers found a debris field in the Atlantic Ocean about 20 miles south of Nantucket. The debris was spotted Saturday night. Coast Guard crews used HC-144 Ocean Sentry and HC-130 Hercules airplanes, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, a 47-foot motor lifeboat and the cutter William Sparling to search more than 4,400 square miles of ocean before suspending the effort on Sunday.
"Suspending a search is not an easy decision," said Rear Adm. Matthew Lake.
The plane's flight recorders have not yet been recovered, and no cause for the crash has been determined.
Company Mourns Its Crew
Latitude Air Ambulance said it must "face the heartbreaking reality" that its four team members, their patient and the patient's family escort are presumed to have died.
"This is an unimaginable loss for our Latitude family and for everyone who loved the six people aboard Heartbeat 104," company president Peter Byl said.
"Our colleagues dedicated themselves to helping people at some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives," he added.
What Investigators Will Look At
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the investigation, with help from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. The Canadian agency will also handle recovery operations at the crash site.
Latitude Air Ambulance is based at Hamilton International Airport in Ontario. Details about the medical condition that required Bean to be flown to Boston have not been released.
The loss adds to a string of deadly plane crashes in and around the U.S. this year.
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