Search ongoing off Nantucket for wreckage of Hamilton

Search ongoing off Nantucket for wreckage of Hamilton-based air ambulance

Black boxes still missing, tributes continue to pour in for Canadian crew on board

A recovery operation is ongoing for wreckage of an Ontario-based air ambulance lost last Saturday off the coast of Nantucket, Mass., with six people aboard, including four Canadians.

While search teams located a debris field late Saturday and identified parts of the GulfStream G100 jet, the four crew and two Bermudian passengers have not been found.

Also still missing are the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, known colloquially as the black box, devices which could give investigators insight into what caused the jet to crash into the ocean during the final minutes of its flight from Bermuda to Boston.

"The two recorders are a key element to determining what happened during the occurrence," said Liam MacDonald, the media relations co-ordinator for Canada's Transportation Safety Board, lead agency investigating the crash.

"While it is possible to investigate the occurrence without the black box, those recorders contain a lot of information that would aid in the conduct of the investigation," he told CBC News on Thursday, adding that his agency is co-ordinating with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and other local agencies to search for the jet.

The TSB said Thursday it was deploying a team to Massachusetts to investigate the loss of the jet, which is operated by Latitude Air Ambulance out of the Hamilton International Airport. The company's name for the jet was Heartbeat 104.

The U.S. Coast Guard has identified the aircraft's crew, who lived in Ontario, as: Captain Philip Gregory Childerhose of Oakville, first officer Thomas Henry Farquhar of Brantford, Niagara nurse Sarah Jane Paton, and respiratory therapist Jolene Beth Weir of Whitby.

They were transporting Bermudians Marilyn Lavonne Bean, 66, and her 41-year-old son, Sergio Wayne Lottimore, the Coast Guard said.

Assuming the aircraft is recovered, additional investigators may be required to help examine the wreckage, said MacDonald. Some pieces may be sent to the TSB engineering laboratory in Ottawa for additional analysis, he said.

A huge area of 11,500 square kilometres off Nantucket was searched starting at 2 a.m. Saturday, the Coast Guard said, after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration told it that air traffic controllers had lost contact with the Gulfstream aircraft.

When the Coast Guard called off the search Sunday evening, Latitude said it was time to face the "heartbreaking reality" that the crew and passengers died in the loss of the jet.

Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy said Thursday that she was deeply saddened to hear that Whitby's Weir was among those killed in the jet tragedy. "Jolene and her husband raised their family in Whitby, and I know this heartbreaking news will be felt by many in our community," she said in a statement.

Latitude president Peter Byl said Weir "was a presence unlike any other. Her incredible ability to care for and love others extended not only to her patients but showed even more in her most favourite roles as a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend."

Crew member travelled the world

Her daughter, Mackenzie Weir, said her mom had spent the last six years travelling the world to bring patients to medical services they needed.

"She loved her family, her friends, nature, camping, Starbucks, Taylor Swift, a clean house, musical theatre and of course, travelling the world," she posted on Instagram. "This job was her dream job combining her ability to care for others and see the world, which she did.

"She was a storyteller at heart and wanted to hear everyone’s stories and make sure everyone was always good before ever thinking about herself."

A memorial service is planned for Weir on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 2 p.m. at Embassy Church at 416 Taunton Road West in Oshawa.

The Ontario Nurses' Association said on Thursday that many will also keenly feel the loss of Paton, who worked at the Welland hospital emergency department and then at the Marotta Family Hospital intensive care unit in St. Catharines.

The U.S. Coast Guard identified the Bermudians on board the medical air transport jet as as 66-year-old Marilyn Lavonne Bean, left, and her 41-year-old son, Sergio Wayne Lottimore. (Bermuda Broadcasting Company)

"To know her was to love her," the association said. "She was passionate, unbelievably kind, boisterous, and filled with an unmatched energy that she poured into her family, friends and patients. She was truly an amazing nurse, whose advocacy and dedication to helping others led her to medivac transport nursing — a job that she loved."

The association said Paton was known to bring in treats and therapy animals for her co-workers, and was an enthusiastic fan of the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles.

"Sarah touched countless lives — as a friend, a nurse and a colleague. She was truly one of a kind and her generous spirit was continuously making the world around her a better place. Her legacy will live on in every act of kindness and her spirit will always remind us to live our lives to the fullest."

At Prairie College in Alberta, where Farquhar was a graduate of the Prairie Aviation Training Centre in 2023, president and CEO Mark Maxwell said Farquhar's death "has left a hole in many hearts. We mourn with the Farquhar family, his wife Kayla, and all his loved ones.”

Dallas Derksen, director of the flight centre, said Farquhar's passion for life was obvious to everyone.

"Tommy is remembered on campus as a bright and happy presence, always with a smile, whose musical talents contributed to chapel services, and whose good-natured and kind-hearted way blessed all around him," he said.

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In honour of his life, Farquhar's family has established the Tommy Farquhar Aviation Scholarship Fund at the college, which will support up-and-coming pilots who share his passion for aviation and his commitment to using those skills to help others, the college said.

Latitude's Byl said Childerhose was "a person of great integrity, incredibly kind-hearted and extremely passionate about aviation. He was dedicated to his family, friends, and colleagues. He touched the hearts of everyone he talked to and helped anyone who was in need."

Paul Forsyth is a St. Catharines-based CBC reporter covering communities in the Niagara Region. He has decades of reporting experience in Niagara, having worked for Niagara This Week, the St. Catharines Standard and the Welland Tribune before joining CBC. You can reach him at paul.forsyth@cbc.ca.