By ALYSSA GUZMAN, US NEWS REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
New air traffic control audio offers haunting clues into an air ambulance’s final moments before it disappeared near Nantucket on Saturday morning.
‘You said you’re coming in blind?’ a New York controller can be heard asking Latitude Air Ambulance flight as it headed toward Boston.
‘Okay, you declare an emergency or not?’ he asked, before telling the pilots that the reception was ‘a little weak.’
Then, the confused controller told the pilots he ‘didn’t hear what your response was if you were declaring an emergency or not.’
Seconds later, the controller repeatedly asked if the air ambulance was there to no response.
He asked another person if their radar saw the plane, to which a different man said the radar cut off at anything below 9,500 feet.
The US Coast Guard launched a search for the Gulfstream aircraft around 6am after the aircraft, which is owned by Latitude Air Ambulance, failed to make it to Boston.
The crew was performing a medical evacuation in Bermuda, Latitude’s Director of Flight Operations Clarence Togeretz told NBC News.
A plane carrying six people has gone missing on its way to Boston from Bermuda on Saturday (stock image)
FlightAware data showed the aircraft plummeted to around 11,000 feet from roughly 25,000 shortly after 1am. The final ping came around 1.30am
‘We always get rather concerned when our crew doesn’t report to us in a timely manner,’ Togeretz told the outlet. ‘But I will say that again, optimistically and positively, that doesn’t mean that the worst has happened.’
The plane was flying with four crew members and two passengers, ABC News reported.
The aircraft is believed to have dropped 7,500 feet before hitting the water, sources close to the investigation told ABC News.
The Coast Guard said the Federal Aviation Administration lost contact with the plane early this morning. The plane was traveling from Bermuda to Boston.
As of 6.30am, the Coast Guard was searching for the aircraft near Nantucket, Massachusetts.
FlightAware data showed the aircraft plummeted to around 11,000 feet from roughly 25,000 shortly after 1am.
Coast Guard crews from Cape Code, Brant Point, and William Sparling are responding to the search, the agency told the Daily Mail
A flurry of activity is seen off the coast of Nantucket since the search began
The final ping came around 1.30am, shortly before the plane was scheduled to land in Boston.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Coast Guard and Latitude for comment.
Coast Guard crews from Cape Cod, Brant Point, and William Sparling are responding to the search, the agency told the Daily Mail.
Air and boating crews are assisting the search.
Latitude launched in 2009, providing services that take patients to hospitals and back to their home countries.
The Canadian company has a fleet of 10 planes, including four Gulfstream G100s.
