A small plane crash-landed in the ocean off Boca Raton, Florida, on Saturday, and the pilot survived, according to reports from Live 5 News WCSC and the New York Post.
The pilot, identified by the New York Post as 23-year-old Faith Tenkley, was flying a twin-engine Piper PA-39. Live 5 News reported the plane belonged to her family and that she was en route to pick up her parents when she began experiencing engine problems. The plane had departed Fort Myers, Florida, and was heading to an airport in the Bahamas.
Emergency Landing
The New York Post reported that Tenkley was forced to ditch the plane after an engine failed and the landing gear broke. She had left Fort Myers just before 8:50 a.m. and encountered trouble less than an hour later, about 15 miles off Boca Raton.
Video captured the landing, showing Tenkley navigating the plane onto the water. Witness Alex Bester, quoted by Live 5 News, described the moment: "I don't know, it just kinda came in low and just, I didn't think I was like, I was gonna go for the beach or is it gonna go for the water, and they went for the shallow water, which I think is kind of smart."
Tenkley said she felt it was safer to land in the water instead of dodging buildings near the coast. "After deciding a landing at Boca Raton Airport was not the safest option I continued to the coast," she said, as reported by the New York Post. In a statement, she said, "During the descent my primary focus was ensuring the safety of everyone around me. I was able to navigate toward open water, successfully avoiding all nearby buildings, paddleboarders, and swimmers (as well as individuals using metal detectors)."
Rescue and Aftermath
Live 5 News reported that rescuers pulled her from the plane before it began to sink. Crews removed the plane from the ocean on Sunday, according to the same outlet.
The New York Post reported that Tenkley reunited with her parents after they flew from the Bahamas to Miami to meet her. She said she felt "incredibly fortunate" to have been able to swim away from the incident.
Her father, Chad Tenkley, told the New York Post that he is a pilot and owns the Fort Myers-based aviation company usoarflorida LLC. He confirmed the plane belongs to his firm but said Faith does not fly commercially for it. Faith has held her pilot's license for four years and flies commercially elsewhere.
Witnesses on the beach described seeing the landing. Maria Marks, quoted by the New York Post, said she saw Tenkley perform the emergency landing without suffering injuries. "One second I'm spraying sunscreen on my kid. The next I'm looking up and saying, 'Is that supposed to be happening?'" she said.