The Embraer 110 left Jérémie at 2:33 p.m. on Feb. 5. Four minutes later it dropped off radar.
FlightAware data showed the twin-engine cargo plane, operated by the Venice, Florida, ministry Agape Flights, falling at more than 3,000 feet per minute at over 200 mph in its last minute of flight. Both pilots were killed. Search crews found the wreckage in several pieces in mountainous terrain between Jérémie and Les Cayes, in Haiti’s Grand’Anse region, the day after contact was lost.
The flight
The aircraft, tail number N316AF, had taken off from Venice at 7:34 a.m. It stopped in Eleuthera in the Bahamas, then in Cap-Haitien, and reached Jérémie at 1:51 p.m. Its next leg was to Les Cayes. After that it was due to clear customs in West Palm Beach and head back to Venice.
Haiti’s government Joint Rescue and Coordination Center and Hero Client Rescue, an affiliate of the U.S. nonprofit Hero Foundation that specializes in aviation rescue, began searching after a distress alert came in. They put up two helicopters. Haiti’s civil aviation office, known as OFNAC, directed the effort, and the pilots’ remains were recovered several days after the crash.
Agape’s CEO, Allen Speer, spoke in a video message released Feb. 6. “What we share with you is profound sorrow,” he said. “We do not believe that there were any survivors.” He added: “Our hearts are broken. We grieve deeply for the families of the pilots who are now enduring an unimaginable loss.”
The pilots
Communications director Jacques May told The Haitian Times on Feb. 10 that the bodies had been recovered and the organization was working to bring them home as soon as possible. Agape later named the pilots as Patrick Decker and Kory Elleby.
Decker, a father of two adult children, flew for United Airlines for 40 years and then spent nine years as a volunteer pilot with the ministry, flying weekly cargo missions. Elleby, also a father of two, had been with Agape for eight years. In a Facebook statement the group said: “Both faithfully answered the call God placed on their lives and gave themselves fully to it.”
Cause still open
Nobody has said what brought the plane down. Weather was rough that Thursday, with a cold front crossing the Caribbean. Satellite imagery showed a storm system forming over eastern Cuba, with energy moving through western Haiti near Jérémie, close to the crash site. The terrain there climbs to nearly 7,000 feet and can cause turbulence.
Haiti’s aviation authority leads the investigation. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said Haitian officials had formally notified it of the crash. Spokesman Peter Knudson said it was not yet decided whether an investigator would travel to Haiti, “but we will assign an accredited representative to the investigation.” Authorities have not said when a final report might come out.
A hard year for Haitian aviation
The crash came two days after a Bolt Express plane made an emergency landing on Feb. 3 on a flight from Port-au-Prince to Les Cayes. The Ohio-based charter company said all six people aboard were unharmed. No reason for the landing has been given.
Flying is often the preferred way to move between departments in Haiti because of insecurity and poor roads. Past accidents include an October 2024 crash of a Sarah Express Airways plane in southern Haiti that killed the pilot and co-pilot, and an April 2022 crash in Carrefour of a Port-au-Prince to Jacmel flight, which killed all five aboard and a motorcycle taxi driver on the ground. The FAA has barred U.S. commercial flights to Port-au-Prince since November 2024, after several aircraft were hit by gunfire; the ban runs through March 7, 2026.
Agape Flights was founded in 1980 to support Christian missionaries in the Caribbean. It carries cargo, mail, medical supplies and humanitarian aid to partners in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas, and made its first flight to Haiti in November 1989, landing in Cap-Haitien with emergency supplies for missionary families.
Sources
- US families to receive bodies of 2 pilots killed in Haiti crash, Agape Flights says
- Bodies of Agape Flights pilots involved in crash are recovered, identities not released
Sources
- US families to receive bodies of 2 pilots killed in Haiti crash, Agape …
- Bodies of Agape Flights pilots involved in crash are recovered …
