NANTUCKET, MA. (THECOUNT) — A Gulfstream G100 used as a medical transport aircraft and carrying six people has gone missing off the Massachusetts coast while traveling from Bermuda to Boston, prompting a U.S. Coast Guard search Saturday morning in waters south of Nantucket. The aircraft was traveling to Boston Logan International Airport when the Federal Aviation Administration lost contact with it early Saturday, according to the Coast Guard.
The disappearance comes just days after a medical helicopter crashed into the Pacific Ocean off California’s Catalina Island, killing three people and injuring two others, adding to a series of serious and fatal incidents involving aircraft used in medical transportation. The Catalina crash occurred Sept. 30 near Avalon, where a REACH Air Medical Services helicopter went down shortly after taking off for the mainland.
Advertisement
The missing aircraft is a Gulfstream G100 operated by Latitude Air Ambulance. The company specializes in long-haul medical evacuations and patient repatriations and operates several Gulfstream G100 aircraft. Latitude lists Clarence Togeretz as its director of flight operations.
The aircraft departed L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda late Friday night and was traveling toward Boston Logan International Airport when contact was lost at approximately 2 a.m. Saturday. The Coast Guard said air and surface crews were launched to search for the aircraft after receiving notification from the FAA.
The search area is approximately 13 nautical miles south of Nantucket. Coast Guard assets involved in the operation include aircraft and vessels searching the waters around the island, with crews from Coast Guard Station Brant Point among those participating.
Togeretz told NBC News that Latitude was concerned after the crew failed to report in as expected, while cautioning that the loss of contact did not necessarily mean the worst had occurred. Togeretz is an active pilot who flies Latitude’s Gulfstream G100 aircraft as well as other company aircraft.
Authorities had not publicly released the names of the six people aboard as of Saturday morning. Clarence Togeretz, Latitude Air Ambulance’s director of flight operations, told NBC News that the aircraft had been conducting a medical evacuation in Bermuda before departing for Boston.
The Gulfstream G100 is a twin-engine business jet used by Latitude for international medical transport and patient-repatriation missions. The company says its G100 aircraft are equipped for worldwide operations and critical-care transportation.
The Catalina Island crash that occurred only days earlier involved a REACH Air Medical Services helicopter. The aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from Catalina Island for the mainland with five people aboard. The three people killed were identified as pilot Steven “Steve” Robinson, 59, flight nurse Jessica deVries, 48, and patient Catalina Romero, 45. Two others survived, including flight nurse Brad Sparks. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
While the two incidents occurred under different circumstances and involved different aircraft and operators, both involved aviation missions connected to medical transportation and occurred within the same week.
The disappearance also comes amid several serious and fatal incidents involving medical transport aircraft in recent years. In January 2025, a Jet Rescue Air Ambulance Learjet carrying a pediatric patient, her mother and four crew members crashed in Philadelphia, killing all six aboard and a person on the ground. In March 2025, an AirCare medical helicopter crashed in Mississippi while returning from a patient transport, killing the pilot and two medical crew members. In August 2025, a medical King Air aircraft crashed in Arizona while flying to pick up a critically ill patient, killing all four aboard. A REACH Air Medical helicopter crashed in Sacramento in October 2025, seriously injuring three people aboard, while a Vanderbilt LifeFlight helicopter crash in Tennessee the following month killed one crew member and critically injured two others. Most recently, on Sept. 30, 2026, a REACH medical helicopter crashed into the Pacific Ocean off California’s Catalina Island, killing three people and leaving two survivors. The incidents involved different aircraft, operators and circumstances, and authorities have not indicated that they are connected.
The cause of the loss of contact involving the Gulfstream remains unknown. Authorities had not reported finding the aircraft or confirming the condition of those aboard as of the latest Saturday morning updates. The Coast Guard search remains active.
Nantucket is an island community approximately 30 miles south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The current search area is in the Atlantic Ocean south of the island, with Boston located roughly 70 miles to the northwest.
DEVELOPING::