A small aircraft plunged into the Atlantic Ocean just off one of Florida’s most exclusive seaside communities Saturday morning, shocking beachgoers who watched the plane make an emergency water landing only yards from the shoreline.
The twin-engine Piper went down at about 9:40 a.m., roughly two miles east of Boca Raton Airport, prompting a swift response from local police, lifeguards and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Remarkably, the pilot and only person on board, 23-year-old Faith Tenkley, survived the Boca Raton plane crash without any injuries.
Tenkley had been en route to the Bahamas to pick up her parents when the flight suddenly took a dangerous turn due to mechanical trouble.
Speaking with NBC News, she said she first intended to return and land at Boca Raton Airport, but the situation worsened when the landing gear malfunctioned and the plane’s right engine stopped working.
Facing the possibility of a rough runway landing, Tenkley determined that ditching the aircraft in the ocean would be the safer option.
Authorities said Boca Raton Ocean Rescue crews pulled her from the aircraft, and she was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation as a precaution.
The dramatic emergency landing unfolded in front of people spending a sunny Saturday morning on Boca Raton’s beach, with witnesses saying they looked up to see the plane dropping toward the water.
‘I was there when it happened,’ Maria Marks told WPBF. ‘One second I’m spraying sunscreen on my kid. The next I’m looking up and saying, ‘Is that supposed to be happening?”
The aircraft had departed Page Field in Fort Myers and was supposed to be flying across the water to South Bimini Airport in the Bahamas.
Instead, the flight ended abruptly in the ocean off Boca Raton.
A twin-engine Piper came down in the Atlantic around two miles east of Boca Raton Airport at around 9:40am on Saturday morning
As the hours passed the aircraft sank lower into the ocean until only its tail could be seen sticking above the water as preparations were made to haul it out of the sea
Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Cassandra Nolan told WPBF that the aircraft was a Piper PA30-series twin-engine propeller plane.
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It had been cleared to land at Boca Raton Airport after an emergency was declared, according to Clara Bennett, executive director of the Boca Raton Airport Authority.
But the plane never made it to the runway and instead came down in the Atlantic, where rescuers rushed to reach its pilot.
Witnesses and pilots who later surveyed the scene said the aircraft appeared to have made a controlled descent into the water.
Robert Taplinger, who lives at The Marbella off Ocean Boulevard said the aircraft initially appeared undamaged.
‘The plane is totally intact,’ Taplinger told WPBF.
As the hours passed the aircraft sank lower into the ocean until only its tail could be seen sticking above the water as preparations were made to haul it out of the ocean.
The plane was being piloted by Faith Tenkley, 23. She was flying to pick up her parents in the Bahamas when she started having mechanical issues
Police urged people to steer clear of the area around 250 S. Ocean Blvd., close to West Palmetto Park Road, while emergency crews worked at the scene.
Crowds gathered at South Beach Park as word of the extraordinary incident spread.
Among those with a particularly close view of what happened were Michael and Alexis Arizzi, who were out on a boat with their toddler, Sebastian, when they spotted the plane coming down.
The couple said they were the first boaters to alert the Coast Guard.
‘We were the first boat to witness and respond to the plane landing in the beach this morning,’ Alexis told WPBF.
Far from appearing to plummet uncontrollably out of the sky, she said the aircraft seemed to descend slowly before entering the water.
‘The plane was making a slow descent and delicately landed into the water,’ she said.
Her husband also happened to have specialist knowledge that made the extraordinary scene particularly striking.
‘My husband is an aircraft mechanic at Boca Airport and has been discussing this with the local aviation community all day,’ Alexis added.
