I know very little about Search and Rescue procedures, even less about the protocols involved in searching for the victims of a plane crash but I was struck by something in the news report about this incident.

The report claims that the plane reportedly went down 10 minutes after takeoff of a 20 minute flight at approximately 7:00 AM but that authorities weren't notified for 3 hours. The company apparently started their own SAR operations before notifying the authorities.

Is that normal?

How can a company wait that long before declaring an emergency?

What if some or all of the victims could have survived had they been reached sooner?

It was a 20 minute flight, how late can a flight like that be before it's obvious that something's gone wrong?

Am I totally off base here?

Too many question marks?

John E