An Agape Flights Embraer 110 plane operated by the Florida-based missions group has been confirmed misplaced following a crash in mountainous terrain in Haiti, bringing a tragic finish to an in a single day search and rescue effort and sending shockwaves by the close-knit aviation ministry neighborhood.
Agape Flights CEO Allen Speer delivered the affirmation in a somber replace on Friday, 6 February, stating that the group has confirmed that there have been no survivors. The plane, an Embraer 110 Bandeirante registered as N316AF, was working a mission flight when contact was misplaced on Thursday afternoon, 5 February.
“At the moment is a day none of us ever imagined having to face earlier than you want this,” Speer mentioned in a message posted on Agape’s YouTube and social media pages. “It’s with heavy hearts that we need to share an replace that has shaken our whole Agape Flights neighborhood.”
In line with Speer, the plane dropped off radar over Jérémie, Haiti, prompting an intensive search and rescue operation that continued by the evening and into Friday. The wreckage was in the end situated within the mountainous terrain to the southeast of Jérémie, and whereas the reason for the crash stays unknown, the result is now tragically clear.
We don’t imagine that there have been any survivors. Our hearts are damaged.
Allen Speer | Agape Flights CEO
“What we do know and what we share with you is profound sorrow,” Speer mentioned. “We don’t imagine that there have been any survivors. Our hearts are damaged.”
The group has not launched extra particulars in regards to the flight, together with the variety of passengers on board.
Timeline of the Closing Flight
Knowledge from FlightAware gives a partial image of the plane’s closing actions, although flight monitoring in Haitian airspace may be inconsistent and ought to be interpreted fastidiously.
The Embraer 110 started its day at Venice Municipal Airport (VNC) in Florida, the longtime dwelling base of Agape Flights. N316AF departed Venice at 0734 native time sure for North Eleuthera Airport (ELH) within the Bahamas, a typical refueling cease for Haiti-bound missionary flights from Florida. The plane arrived in Eleuthera at 0905 and departed once more at 0936, this time sure for Cap-Haïtien Worldwide Airport (CAP) on Haiti’s northern coast.
FlightAware knowledge reveals the following leg of the journey listed with estimated occasions fairly than confirmed radar monitoring. The plane was proven departing Cap-Haïtien at 1318, with a final estimated place close to Jérémie at 1351. A subsequent observe reveals the plane first showing close to Jérémie at 1433 native time, with contact misplaced 4 minutes later at 1437 over mountainous terrain southeast of the town.
Jérémie lies alongside the southwestern coast of Haiti’s southern peninsula, roughly 180 miles from Port-au-Prince. It stays unclear whether or not the plane really landed in Jérémie or was transiting the realm when monitoring ceased.
The plane was in-built 1980 and was 46 years previous on the time of the accident.
A Workhorse Plane With a Lengthy Legacy
The Embraer 110 Bandeirante holds an necessary place in aviation historical past, each globally and inside mission aviation. First flown in 1968, the sort entered industrial service within the early Nineteen Seventies and helped propel Embraer into the ranks of main world plane producers. Between 1968 and 1990, 501 examples have been in-built quite a few configurations, able to carrying between 15 and 21 passengers or substantial cargo masses.
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Though manufacturing ended greater than three many years in the past, the EMB 110 continued flying nicely into the trendy period. As just lately as 2018, roughly 150 examples remained in service worldwide with airways, air taxi operators, governments, and air forces.
Notably, the Embraer 110 was the launch plane for the Irish price range provider Ryanair.
At Agape Flights, the Embraer 110 was configured for cargo operations and will carry as much as 3,000 kilos of provides. Alongside a Cessna F406, the plane fashioned the spine of the group’s aviation ministry, delivering essential humanitarian assist, medical provides, mail, and on a regular basis requirements to missionary companions all through the Caribbean.
Practically 45 Years of Service and Religion
Agape Flights was based in 1980 by Keith and Clara Starkey following mission journeys to Haiti, Spain, Guatemala, and Africa. In search of a method to develop their affect, they turned to aviation, buying a Cessna 411 and launching their first mission flight from Sarasota to Cap-Haïtien later that very same 12 months.
Working out of a modest hangar at Venice Municipal Airport, Agape has grown into an important logistical lifeline for roughly 300 missionaries and affiliated companions. The group employs 13 paid workers members and depends closely on a volunteer power of roughly 150 people, together with pilots who donate their time and experience.
Whereas Agape Flights features as a transport operation on paper, religion and repair stay central to its id. Mission companions pay a modest annual price and share transport prices, whereas donors and company supporters often step in to cowl bills. Along with routine deliveries, Agape has repeatedly supported catastrophe aid efforts, together with emergency flights following Haiti’s devastating 2021 earthquake.
“We pay attention. We reply. God at all times delivers,” Speer mentioned, reaffirming the group’s core beliefs even within the face of tragedy.
In his message, Speer requested for prayers for the households of the pilots misplaced within the crash and for the complete Agape neighborhood because it begins to grieve.
Please permit God to information this example and to work in ways in which solely He can.
Allen Speer | Agape Flights CEO
“We ask for prayer for energy when the load feels insufferable, for consolation when there are not any phrases, and for God’s peace to encompass them in each second,” he mentioned. “Please permit God to information this example and to work in ways in which solely He can.”
Out of respect for these concerned, Agape Flights has said that no names or extra particulars will likely be launched right now.
