Coast Guard Suspends Search for Missing Aircrew Off Maui

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for the missing three-person Hawaii Life Flight crew whose aircraft disappeared off Maui on Thursday night [Dec. 15, 2022].

"Working with U.S. Coast Guard assets, the Hawaii Wing Civil Air Patrol and the Coast Guard Auxiliary, our team conducted a total of 28 searches, over the course of 67 hours, covering over 4,732 square nautical miles," Jennifer Conklin, the Coast Guard District 14 search and rescue program manager, said in a statement Sunday night. "While it is not an easy decision, we have suspended the active search pending any further new information."

At about 9:10 p.m. Thursday, watchstanders at Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu received a report from the Honolulu Control Facility of a downed Hawaii Life Flight aircraft 16 miles south of Hana. The plane was en route from Maui to pick up a patient on Hawaii island.

The medical transport plane, a Beechcraft King Air 90 twin-prop, lost radar contact at 9:27 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration and Global Medical Response, the company that operates Hawaii Life Flight.

Multiple aircrews from Air Station Barbers Point were deployed immediately after the notification and the Coast Guard Cutter William Hart was diverted to join in the search.

Involved in the search were multiple Air Station Barbers Point MH-65 Dolphin Helicopter aircrews, multiple Air Station Barbers Point C-130J Hercules aircrews, multiple Coast Guard Station Maui 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crews, the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter William Hart (WPC 1134), Coast Guard auxiliary aircrews and aircrews from the Hawaii Wing Civil Air Patrol.

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