Canouan

The airplane departed Canouan Airport at 1427LT on a local flight, carrying apparently three passengers and one pilot. About six minutes after takeoff, the airplane disappeared from radar screens and crashed into the sea two minutes later, at 1435LT. It is unclear if the wreckage was found. The airplane's operations were apparently monitored by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for some time and it is believed that the pilot may have switched off the transponder after takeoff. Illegal operation suspected.

The pilot was performing an ambulance flight from Kingstown-E. T. Joshua Airport to Canouan. En route, while cruising off Bequia Island, the twin engine aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed in the sea. Some debris were found the following day but no trace of the pilot.

The twin engine aircraft departed Canouan Island Airport at 1842LT on a short flight to Kingstown, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, carrying one passenger and one pilot. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot was instructed to report once passing over Bequia Island. Few minutes later, after passing Bequia Island, the pilot contacted ATC and reported he was at the altitude of 1,100 feet with an ETA in Kingstown in four minutes. At 1853LT, the aircraft crashed in unknown circumstances in the sea. The next morning, few debris were found floating on water and no trace of both occupants was ever found. The passenger was the Director of American Eagle for the Canouan Island. All SAR operations were abandoned few days later and the wreckage was not found.

The aircraft was on a flight from Canouan, a small island in the St Vincent group, to Barbados. Shortly after entering Barbados airspace, radar recordings show the aircraft deviated to the south of a direct easterly track to Barbados and descended from cruise flight level (FL) 55 to an altitude of 2,300 feet. The aircraft levelled at 2,300 feet and resumed an easterly track for about six minutes before once again deviating to the south and commencing a further descent. About 16 minutes after the aircraft's initial descent from FL55, the pilots of a commercial aircraft flying from Grenada to Barbados relayed a MAYDAY call from G-ILEA to Barbados Arrivals reporting that the pilot "had lost one engine; it appeared he was losing fuel and he doubted that he would be able to make it to Barbados". Some three and a half minutes after the initial MAYDAY call, the pilot of the commercial aircraft relayed a further message stating that the pilot intended to ditch. The final radar return for the aircraft showed it at an altitude of 600 feet about 55 miles on the 259° radial from Barbados Airport. Despite an extensive search and rescue operation, no trace of the aircraft or its two occupants was found. A reconciliation of fuel receipts and flight times shows that, at best, the aircraft would have been short of fuel for the flight, and at worst could have run out of fuel.