Young Pilot, 23, Emerges Unharmed After Emergency Ocean Landing Off Florida Coast

A young pilot from Florida remarkably survived an emergency water landing in the Atlantic Ocean off Boca Raton this past Saturday, an incident captured on video by a bystander on the beach.

Faith Tenkley, 23, an experienced pilot for four years, was the sole occupant of her family's twin-engine Piper aircraft. As she approached the coastline, she skillfully navigated the plane around buildings and avoided paddleboarders before executing a smooth water landing in an open stretch of ocean adjacent to the beach. The incident occurred at approximately 9:40 a.m. local time.

Following the plane's descent near 250 South Ocean Boulevard, a lifeguard reached Tenkley within about a minute. A Boca Raton Ocean Rescue fire boat quickly followed, according to local authorities. Dramatic video footage documented the aircraft's water landing, the swift rescue, and the moments afterward as a visibly shaken Tenkley sat on the beach, observing her fully intact but sinking plane.

Emergency Mid-Flight Decisions

Tenkley had departed from Page Field in Fort Myers and was en route to Bimini in the Bahamas, where she intended to pick up her parents. Approximately 15 miles west of Boca Raton, she encountered significant mechanical problems. Her initial plan was to divert to Boca Raton Airport; however, the landing gear subsequently malfunctioned. This critical issue raised concerns that a hard landing on a runway could potentially ignite the aircraft, which had been recently refueled.

At this point, the plane's right engine also failed, leaving Tenkley with no option but to make a rapid and decisive choice: ditch the aircraft in the ocean rather than risk a landing on land.

Skillful Landing and Rapid Rescue

Witnesses on the beach observed the low-flying plane descending over the busy area before it settled into the water. Maria Marks, a beachgoer, described the sudden shift in her morning:

"One second I’m spraying sunscreen on my kid. The next I’m looking up and saying, ‘Is that supposed to be happening?’"

Another observer, Alexis Arizzi, noted that the aircraft made a slow descent and "delicately landed" on the water. A pilot who was also at the beach commended Tenkley's expert handling of the emergency, highlighting that the plane remained in one piece after impact.

Tenkley, who was the sole occupant, was transported to a hospital as a precautionary measure, though no injuries were reported, according to Boca Raton police.

She later clarified details surrounding the event, addressing misinformation circulating online. Tenkley stated that false reports suggested the pilot was male and that a "surfer girl" had come to his aid. In reality, Tenkley herself was the pilot. She had been wearing a long skirt over a bikini and removed the skirt to swim to shore. This led some on the beach to assume she was a surfer assisting a male pilot.

Flight tracking services, such as FlightAware, had lost contact with the aircraft while it was over land, but the successful water landing was extensively documented by an onlooker's video.