Scholarship Honours Sask. Pilot Presumed Dead in Missing Air Ambulance Crash

Pilot Tommy Farquhar Photo: Courtesy of Prairie College

A scholarship honouring a young pilot from Saskatchewan has been established after the air ambulance he was aboard went missing off the coast of Massachusetts.

Thomas Farquhar was the first officer of the Heartbeat 104 Medevac, an air ambulance that went missing off the coast of Nantucket, Mass., on Oct. 3. The U.S. Coast Guard identified Farquhar as one of six people about the craft, which included four Canadians and two Bermudians.

The Tommy Farquhar Aviation Scholarship Fund, established by Farquhar’s family, will support aspiring pilots who share “Tommy’s passion for aviation and his commitment to using those skills to serve the needs of others,” according to a statement from Prairie College, a Christian college located in Three Hills, Alberta.

Farquhar, a Saskatchewan native, had studied at Prairie Aviation Training Centre (PATC) and graduated in 2023.

“Tommy’s passion for life and the joy that he had was evident to everyone around him,“ PATC director Dallas Derksen said in the statement. ”His relationship with Jesus was very important to him, and his faith impacted every part of his life.”

Pilot Tommy Farquhar (back row, centre) stands with students and staff at the Prairie Aviation Training Centre in Three Hills, Alberta. Photo courtesy of Prairie College

Farquhar’s “good-natured and kind-hearted way blessed all around him,” the statement said, adding that he “sought to meet the greatest needs of the world through his life and work.”

Crew members search by air and on the water for a Boston-bound air ambulance that vanished off the coast of Nantucket, Mass., on Oct. 3, 2026. U.S. Coast Guard via AP

Following the disappearance of the air ambulance, a civilian vessel discovered debris in the water associated with the aircraft, according to a statement from the Coast Guard. The plane itself is still missing.

The cause of the crash remains unknown. The crew reported “electrical difficulties” as it was approaching Boston, according to a statement from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada on Oct. 5. The aircraft subsequently descended rapidly.