Updated

Updated · Fox News · Aug 23

Pilot Faith Tenkley, 23, Ditches Twin-Engine Plane Off Boca Raton After Engine and Gear Failures

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Aug 23

Pilot Faith Tenkley, 23, Ditches Twin-Engine Plane Off Boca Raton After Engine and Gear Failures

Q: What critical mechanical failure forced a Bahamas-bound aircraft to suddenly plunge into Florida coastal waters?

The aircraft was reportedly hit by a dual mechanical emergency: its landing gear failed and its right engine went out. According to follow-up reporting and the pilot’s own account, the twin-engine Piper was flying from Fort Myers to Bimini when mechanical problems began near Boca Raton. She initially intended to divert to Boca Raton Airport, but after the landing gear broke, a runway landing became far riskier. The situation worsened when the plane’s right engine failed. With substantial fuel still on board, the pilot feared a hard belly landing on land could trigger a fire. She instead chose a controlled ditching in the ocean, where witnesses said the aircraft descended smoothly and avoided people on the beach and in the water. Authorities have said the exact cause of those failures remains under FAA investigation, but the immediate problem forcing the water landing was the combination of the broken landing gear and the loss of the right engine.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 23

Faith Tenkley safely put her family’s twin-engine Piper into the Atlantic off Boca Raton at about 9:40 a.m., then swam away as a lifeguard reached her within roughly a minute.
About 15 miles west of Boca Raton, mechanical trouble escalated from a planned airport diversion to a landing-gear malfunction and right-engine failure, pushing Tenkley to avoid a fuel-heavy runway landing she feared could ignite.
Video showed the plane descending low over a crowded beach, clearing buildings and paddleboarders before touching down smoothly in open water near 250 South Ocean Blvd.; the aircraft later sank largely intact.
Tenkley, who was flying from Fort Myers to Bimini to pick up her parents, was the only person aboard and was taken to a hospital as a precaution; police reported no injuries.
The account also corrected online misinformation that a male pilot had been rescued by a female surfer; the FAA is investigating the emergency landing.