A 23-year-old female pilot miraculously walked away unscathed on Saturday morning after deliberately landing her stricken twin-engine plane in the Atlantic Ocean.
Faith Tenkley dodged buildings and paddleboarders before touching down in front of stunned Florida beachgoers.
She had been flying her family’s plane from Fort Myers to the Bahamas to pick up her parents when what should have been a routine trip suddenly became a terrifying fight to get safely back on the ground.
About 15 miles west of Boca Raton, Tenkley said she began experiencing mechanical problems with the aircraft.
Her initial plan had been to divert to Boca Raton Airport for an emergency landing but then another potentially dangerous problem emerged: Tenkley said her landing gear broke.
With a large amount of fuel still aboard the aircraft, the young pilot feared that attempting to put the plane down on a runway without functioning landing gear could result in a hard landing – and potentially spark a fire.
And by that point, she said the right engine of the twin-engine aircraft had also failed leaving Tenkley rapidly running out of options.
Rather than risk attempting a landing at the airport, the pilot – who has been flying since shortly after graduating high school – made the dramatic decision to head for the Atlantic.
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 with her aircraft
A twin-engine Piper came down in the Atlantic around two miles east of Boca Raton Airport at around 9:40am on Saturday morning
Tenkley said she maneuvered around buildings as she approached the coastline before encountering paddleboarders in the water below.
She ultimately managed to find a clear stretch of ocean alongside the beach and guided the stricken aircraft toward the water.
Against the odds, the landing was smooth and the plane remained intact as Tenkley managed to get out of the plane unaided and without injuries.
A lifeguard reached her within about a minute, she said, with a fire rescue boat arriving close behind.
The extraordinary sequence unfolded in front of shocked beachgoers in affluent Boca Raton, where families had been enjoying their Saturday morning when they suddenly found themselves watching the small plane descend toward the sea.
Tenkley later told Gulf Coast News that she has been a pilot for four years and had taken off in the family’s aircraft intending to collect her parents in Bimini – about 70 miles due west across open water.
The twin-engine Piper went into the sea around two miles east of Boca Raton Airport at around 9:40am triggering an emergency response from police, lifeguards and the US Coast Guard.
‘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?”
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
The aircraft had departed Page Field in Fort Myers and was supposed to be flying across to South Bimini Airport in the Bahamas.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Cassandra Nolan told WPBF that the aircraft was a Piper PA30-series twin-engine propeller plane.
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.
Witnesses and pilots who later surveyed the scene confirmed the aircraft 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.
That pilot said she had spoken with a lifeguard friend who had heard about possible problems involving the aircraft’s communications and engine.
‘I spoke to a lifeguard friend of mine who mentioned radio issues, lost communications and an engine failure ultimately,’ he said.
The plane made a controlled descent into the water and remained intact close to the shoreline
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. ‘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 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.
The FAA will be investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.
The aircraft involved belongs to a family of twin-engine planes manufactured by Piper Aircraft decades ago.
Piper PA-30-series aircraft were produced between 1961 and 1972 and were configured to carry either four or six people.
The aircraft that came down Saturday was identified as a PA-39 registered to USOARFlorida LLC of Fort Myers, according to FAA records cited by WPBF.
