A 23-year-old Florida pilot says she feels extraordinarily lucky to be alive after safely escaping a small plane that she was forced to put down in the Atlantic Ocean following a midair mechanical failure.
Faith Tenkley was flying to the Bahamas on Saturday to pick up her parents when the trip took a dramatic turn off Boca Raton, Florida. According to Tenkley, the right engine on her aircraft failed and the landing gear also broke, leaving her with few safe options.
Rather than attempt to land her Piper PA30 propeller plane at Boca Raton Airport while carrying a significant fuel load, Tenkley chose to ditch the aircraft in the ocean, fearing a runway landing could have triggered a fire.
“I am incredibly fortunate and relieved to share that I was able to swim away from this incident,” Tenkley, who has been flying for four years, told WPTV on Saturday.
She said that once she determined Boca Raton Airport was not the safest place to attempt an emergency landing, she continued toward the shoreline and focused on minimizing danger to anyone nearby during the descent.
“I was able to navigate toward open water, successfully avoiding all nearby buildings, paddleboarders, and swimmers (as well as individuals using metal detectors),” Tenkley said. “I am incredibly fortunate and relieved to share that I was able to swim away from this incident.”
Tenkley had departed Page Field in Fort Myers shortly before 8:50 a.m. and began experiencing trouble when she was roughly 15 miles off the coast of Boca Raton.
Less than an hour after takeoff, she managed to bring the aircraft down in the water in what appeared to be a controlled emergency landing. Video of the incident showed the plane descending into the Atlantic as Tenkley steered clear of buildings and people in the area.
Witnesses on the beach were left stunned as they watched the pilot in action.
“One second I’m spraying sunscreen on my kid. The next I’m looking up and saying, ‘Is that supposed to be happening?’” Maria Marks, a beachgoer, told WPBF.
Alex Bester, another witness, told WPLG he initially didn’t know if the plane was going to land on the sand or in the water after it “came in low.”
“They went for the shallow water which I think is kinda smart,” he said.
Tenkley was able to make her way back to the shore and crews have since removed the plane from the water.
