Civil Air Patrol aircrews have a briefing Friday at Lyman Field Composite Squadron at Hilo Airport. Civil Air Patrol photo

The Maui News

The active search for a Hawaii Life Flight’s medical transport plane that went missing Thursday night south of Hana was suspended Sunday “pending any further new information,” the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday evening.

“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,” said Jennifer Conklin, the Coast Guard District 14 Search and Rescue program manager. “While it is not an easy decision, we have suspended the active search pending any further new information.”

The Hawaii Life Flight’s Beechcraft King Air 90 with three crew members on board lost radar contact around 9:27 p.m. Thursday. It departed Kahului Airport and was headed to Waimea-Kohala Airport to pick up a patient.

No immediate details were released on the plane’s crew. But Global Medical Response did halt its medical flight service in the state to care for their “caregivers.”

Gov. Josh Green, county mayors, Army National Guard, Global Medical Response and others have worked together to ensure there is medical transportation in the state in the meantime.

The search for the plane began Thursday night after 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.

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

Also involved Friday and Saturday was the Hawai’i Wing Civil Air PatrolU.S. Airforce Auxiliary unit (CAP) volunteers.

Several Civil Air Patrol pilots, mission scanners, and mission observers from Honolulu, Maui, Hawaii island, and California deployed three CAP planes while coordinating with USCG aircrews, Boats-Medium crews, and helicopter aircrews Friday to support the search and rescue efforts led by the USCG by providing scanning and aerial photography of key points of interest, according to news release from the Hawai’i Wing Civil Air Patrol.

On Saturday, four CAP planes were added to assist the USCG in covering a wider area of key points of interest.

Also involved were, Air Station Barbers Point MH-65 Dolphin Helicopter aircrews, Air Station Barbers Point C-130J Hercules aircrews, Coast Guard Station Maui 45-foot Response Boat-Medium and Coast Guard Auxiliary aircrews.