A Florida-bound private plane carrying a real estate developer and his wife crashed in the waters off Jamaica after fighter jets were scrambled to investigate why the pilot stopped responding to radio communications.

The aircraft went down at about 2:15 p.m. EDT Friday about 22 kilometres northeast of Port Antonio, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

The Jamaican military later said that rescuers found an oil slick indicating where the plane went down, but there was no sign yet of the wreckage.

U.S. Coast Guard ships were also dispatched to the scene, the FAA said.

The aircraft, a Socata TBM-700, left Rochester, N.Y. at 8:45 a.m. and was bound for Naples, Fla. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot of the light business aircraft stopped responding to radio calls around 10 a.m. ET.

It continued to fly over the Atlantic Ocean into the Caribbean, several hours after it stopped responding to radio communications.

Two F-15 fighter jets were scrambled under the direction of NORAD to investigate the flight as it flew over the ocean.

Rochester developer Larry Glazer and his wife Jane were aboard the plane, their son Rick Glazer told The Associated Press. But he said he can’t confirm that the couple was killed.

Glazer is the owner of Rochester-based real estate firm Buckingham Properties. He and his wife are both licensed pilots.

NORAD said in a tweet it is possible the plane's occupants suffered from hypoxia, meaning an inadequate supply of oxygen.

The fighter jets began following the aircraft at 11:30 a.m., but when the plane flew past Florida and entered Cuban airspace, the NORAD jets "broke off trail" and returned to base to refuel, NORAD said.

The Southeast arm of the U.S. Coast Guard said it had a C-130 turboprop airplane from Clearwater, Fla. en route.

Just five days ago, NORAD sent two fighter jets to respond to another unresponsive aircraft.

In that incident, a single engine plane took off from Wisconsin and was bound for an airport in Manassas, Va. The U.S. Coast Guard said the fighter jet pilots could see that the plane's pilot, the only person on board, appeared unconscious as the plane flew.

The plane eventually ran out of fuel and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The crash is under investigation.

With files from The Associated Press

The flight took off from Rochester, N.Y. and went down off the northeast coast of Jamaica: