Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) is coordinating an offshore salvage operation to locate and recover the wreckage of a Latitude Air Ambulance jet that went down in the Atlantic Ocean south of Nantucket Island. The Gulfstream G100 business jet, flying under the call sign “Heartbeat 104,” was conducting a routine medical evacuation flight from Bermuda to Boston early Saturday morning when it vanished from radar, killing all six people on board.
Craig Johnston, the TSB’s director of air investigations, confirmed that Canadian authorities are actively seeking an ocean-going vessel capable of handling demanding North Atlantic conditions. As reported by The Toronto Star, the agency is evaluating options across Canadian, American, federal, and commercial fleets to transport investigators to international waters off the Massachusetts coast. Johnston noted that the agency aims to reach the site swiftly because salt water degrades delicate physical evidence and electronic components over time.
Critical Descent and Flight Recorders
The aircraft was en route from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda to Boston Logan International Airport when tragedy struck shortly after 1:00 a.m. Saturday. Tracking logs indicated that the jet experienced an uncontrolled or rapid descent, dropping from roughly 24,000 feet to 11,000 feet in approximately three minutes before communications ceased completely. Air traffic controllers made repeated inquiries asking the flight crew whether they required emergency assistance, but received no response before the radar target disappeared.
The U.S. Coast Guard initiated an exhaustive maritime and aerial search spanning more than 1,600 square miles, discovering a fragmented debris field late Saturday evening before formally ending search-and-rescue operations on Sunday. The operational focus has now transitioned entirely to evidence recovery and investigation under Canadian leadership. Investigators are prioritizing the retrieval of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, while listening for signals from the plane’s underwater acoustic locator beacon.
Identities of the Victims and Institutional Support
The tragedy claimed the lives of four Canadian aviation and medical professionals based in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, alongside two Bermudian citizens. Latitude Air Ambulance identified the flight crew as Captain Philip Gregory Childerhose of Oakville, First Officer Thomas Henry Farquhar of Brantford, flight nurse Sarah Jane Paton, and respiratory therapist Jolene Beth Weir. Company president Peter Byl emphasized that the crew members were experienced specialists dedicated to caring for critical patients during vulnerable medical transfers.
Authorities in Hamilton, Bermuda, identified the two passengers as 66-year-old Marilyn Lavonne Bean and her son, 41-year-old Sergio Wayne Lottimore, a senior insurance executive accompanying his mother for treatment in Massachusetts, as reported by The Mirror. The Bermuda Police Service deployed family liaison officers to assist the surviving relatives, while Bermuda’s Minister of Health Kim Wilson expressed national grief and gratitude for the Canadian aeromedical team’s humanitarian service.
Next Steps in the Technical Investigation
Under international aviation protocols governing aircraft registered in Canada, the TSB is directing the technical inquiry with formal assistance from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and local state agencies. An initial team of three Canadian investigators is scheduled to deploy on the chartered salvage ship, with the deployment expandable up to 20 specialists if key wreckage sections are located.
Any recovered black boxes, avionics, and airframe structures will be flown directly to the TSB’s specialized engineering laboratories in Ottawa for forensic teardown and data extraction. While the comprehensive final investigation report may take up to two years to complete, the TSB announced plans to release a preliminary factual summary within 30 days to outline early findings regarding the jet’s descent profile, weather conditions, and operational background.