US Air Force rescues 11 after plane crashes into waters off Florida coast

Lead

All 11 people aboard a private plane that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Florida on Tuesday survived and were rescued after spending hours on a life raft, according to US military officials. The survivors, all Bahamian adults, were hoisted to safety by a US Air Force Reserve team as a thunderstorm approached, with the rescue helicopter having only about five minutes of fuel remaining when the last person was lifted from the water.

The plane, a twin-engined turboprop, went down approximately 80 to 175 miles east of Melbourne and Miami, depending on the source, after departing from Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas' Abaco Islands en route to Freeport, Grand Bahama. An emergency locator transmitter signal alerted the US Coast Guard, which coordinated the search and rescue effort.

Rescue Operation

The US Air Force's 920th Rescue Wing, based at Patrick Space Force Base near Cape Canaveral, was conducting a training mission when it was redirected to assist. According to the US Coast Guard, Major Elizabeth Piowaty's HC-130J Combat King II transport plane and a HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter were already airborne when the search was initiated.

Piowaty told reporters at a news briefing on Wednesday that her crew spotted the life raft as a storm was approaching and dropped a package of food, water, and additional flotation to sustain the survivors until rescuers could reach them. By that time, the survivors had been in the raft for about five hours, according to US Air Force Captain Rory Whipple, one of the pararescuers.

"For all those people to survive is pretty miraculous," Piowaty said, echoing a sentiment expressed by other officials. Whipple described the survivors as "in distress, physically, mentally, emotionally" upon sight.

Over nearly an hour and a half, the helicopter crew made nine lifts using a winch and basket in choppy seas to bring all 11 survivors aboard, then flew them to waiting ambulances at Melbourne airport. Some of the survivors required urgent medical attention, though all were reported to have survived.

Pilot's Account

The pilot, identified as Ian Nixon by CBS News (the BBC's US news partner), recounted the ordeal to reporters. He said the plane experienced a cascade of failures—first the navigation system, then the radio, then one engine, and finally the other.

"I wasn't able to reach anybody on the radio for a while," Nixon said, according to CBS News. "I tried to call Freeport; I tried to call Miami radio. I don't know if they were hearing me, but I didn't get a response."

With nowhere to land, Nixon said he "ditched" the aircraft—a last-resort, intentionally executed manoeuvre when no other options are possible. "Once I hit the water, my first thought was, 'We didn't die,'" he said.

During the wait on the life raft, Nixon tried to keep spirits up. "I told them, 'In the next 10 minutes, a plane is going to come,'" he said. "Then one of the passengers said, 'Hold on, did I hear something?'" It was the distant sound of the approaching rescue helicopter.

Fuel Concerns and Aftermath

Lieutenant Colonel Matt Johnson, the helicopter pilot, revealed that his aircraft had only about five minutes of available fuel when the last survivor was hoisted. He called that moment "bingo time," a military term for the hard time to leave the scene and return due to low fuel. His helicopter had the capability of in-flight refueling, but using it would have delayed getting the survivors to shore.

"We did not need to do that," Johnson said, according to The Guardian, though the full quote was not available.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Officials have not released the names of the passengers, but they were described as Bahamian adults. The plane was a small Beechcraft twin-propeller aircraft, according to The Guardian.

Perspectives

• Military and rescue officials emphasized the miraculous nature of the survival, highlighting the coordination between the Coast Guard and Air Force Reserve units, and the skill of the pararescuers in executing the hoist operation in challenging conditions.
• The pilot, Ian Nixon, provided a first-person account of the crash and the tense wait for rescue, crediting the passengers' collective composure and the timely arrival of help.
• Reporting outlets varied slightly in their details, with some noting the plane was "private" and others specifying it was a "twin-engined turboprop" or "Beechcraft twin-propeller." The distance from shore was also reported differently (80 miles, 125 miles, 129 km, 175 miles), reflecting different reference points (Melbourne vs. Miami). All sources agreed on the survival of all 11 and the five-hour wait on the raft.