A young pilot surprised everyone by landing her twin-engine plane in the sea near a crowded beach in Florida.
Faith Tenkley, 23, skillfully dodged buildings and visitors to land her small plane in the water near Boca Raton Beach on Saturday. The plane's landing gear failed, forcing her to take emergency action.
Tenkley was alone in her family's Piper PA30 plane, planning to fly about 150 miles from Fort Myers to pick up her parents in the Bahamas, when it started having mechanical problems.
The young but experienced pilot initially planned to make an emergency landing in Boca, but when she realized the landing gear was not working, she became concerned that a hard landing on the runway of a recently refueled plane could cause a fire.
With the right-side engine inoperative, she decided to crash the plane into the water at around 9:40 a.m. A video shared on X shows Tenkley dodging buildings and swimmers and finding an empty spot near the beach as beachgoers look on in amazement.
The plane made a “slow descent” before “landing gently” in the water. Witnesses who saw the plane crash alerted the Coast Guard. A Coast Guard ship arrived within a minute, with a lifeboat to pull the pilot out.
No injuries were reported, but Tenkley, who has been a licensed pilot for 4 years, was taken to a local hospital as a precaution. ©LAPSI.al
