- Pilot Faith Tenkley made emergency ocean landing near Boca Raton.
- Mechanical issues forced water landing to avoid runway fire.
- Uninjured pilot praised for skillful handling of emergency.
In a terrifying moment, a 23-year-old Florida pilot named Faith Tenkley safely landed her plane in the ocean near Boca Raton on Saturday morning. A beachgoer recorded the rare event on video. According to a report by Fox News, Tenkley has been flying for four years, and she was alone in her family’s twin-engine Piper plane. She was flying from Page Field in Fort Myers to Bimini in the Bahamas to pick up her parents. About 15 miles west of Boca Raton, the plane had encountered mechanical glitches.
As per the report, the brave pilot first planned to land at Boca Raton Airport. Then the landing gear stopped working. She worried that a hard landing on the runway could start a fire because the plane had just been refuelled. So the pilot took a bold decision to land in the water instead.
🤯Wow! A small plane flew right past me while I was running, and I recorded it making an emergency landing in the ocean near South Beach Park in Boca Raton, Florida.
— SCHD STAN | Craig (@SCHDETF) August 22, 2026
I ran down the beach and caught up to it, saw the passenger safely on shore and watched the plane begin sinking… pic.twitter.com/8fNst7sxYE
Woman pilot avoided hard landing at runway
As she flew toward the coast, she carefully steered the plane around buildings and avoided people on paddleboards. She found an open stretch of water next to the beach and made a smooth water landing at about 9:40 a.m. A lifeguard reached her in about one minute. A fire rescue boat arrived soon after. Tenkley swam to shore.
Some thought a male pilot was involved in accident
The plane stayed in one piece but slowly sank. She was taken to the hospital just to be safe. She had no injuries. Some people online thought a male pilot had been rescued by a female surfer. However, Tenkley clarified that it was her and explained the situation that prompted her to make such a hard decision in the air.
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(Scenes after woman pilot rescued | CREDIT: SOCIAL MEDIA)
She was wearing a long skirt over a bikini. She took off the skirt so she could swim better. People on the beach saw a woman in a bikini and assumed she was a surfer helping a male pilot. Witnesses on the beach were surprised.
One woman said she was putting sunscreen on her child one second and looking up at the low-flying plane the next. Another person said the plane came down slowly and landed gently on the water. A pilot who saw it praised Tenkley’s skill, noting that the plane did not break apart. Video shows the plane landing, the quick rescue, and Tenkley sitting on the beach looking at the sinking aircraft.
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"One second I'm spraying sunscreen on my kid. The next I'm looking up and saying, 'Is that supposed to be happening?'" Beachgoer Maria Marks told WPBF. Another witness, Alexis Arizzi, told the New York Post the aircraft made a slow descent and "delicately landed" on the water. A pilot at the beach praised Tenkley's handling of the emergency, noting the plane remained in one piece.