A young Florida pilot says she feels “incredibly fortunate” to have walked away from a terrifying midair emergency that ended with her plane plunging into the Atlantic Ocean in front of stunned beachgoers.

Faith Tenkley, 23, was flying solo from Fort Myers toward the Bahamas Saturday morning when a series of mechanical problems suddenly turned the routine trip into a fight for survival.

The young pilot had taken off from Page Field in Fort Myers shortly before 8:50 a.m. Her plan was to fly to the Bahamas to pick up her parents.

But roughly 15 miles off Boca Raton, disaster struck.

The plane’s right engine failed, while the landing gear also malfunctioned.

Tenkley initially considered making an emergency landing at Boca Raton Airport. But with a substantial amount of fuel still aboard the aircraft, she feared bringing the crippled plane down on a runway could result in a fire.

She made a split-second decision that would send the plane toward the ocean.

Rather than risk crashing onto the airport runway or into populated areas, Tenkley turned toward the Atlantic and prepared to ditch the aircraft in open water.

“I am incredibly fortunate and relieved to share that I was able to swim away from this incident,” Tenkley told WPTV.

During the descent, she said her priority was protecting everyone on the ground.

She carefully maneuvered the aircraft toward the water, avoiding nearby buildings, beachgoers, paddleboarders, swimmers and even people searching the beach with metal detectors.

Then came the astonishing landing.

Video captured the small Piper PA30 gliding toward the Atlantic before touching down in the water near Boca Raton.

The aircraft landed approximately 15 miles offshore from where Tenkley had encountered the emergency, before ultimately coming to rest in the ocean.

Beachgoers who witnessed the scene were left stunned.

“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, Alex Bester, said he initially could not tell whether the aircraft was going to hit the beach or the water.

“It came in low,” he said, adding that the pilot’s decision to head toward the shallower water appeared to be a smart move.

Tenkley managed to escape the aircraft and swim toward shore.

A lifeguard reached her quickly, with emergency crews arriving shortly afterward. She was checked out and taken to a hospital as a precaution, but no serious injuries were reported.

The dramatic incident could have ended very differently had the aircraft struck the densely populated shoreline.

Instead, Tenkley managed to guide the plane away from people and structures before making the emergency water landing.

The 23-year-old has been flying for about four years.

After the crash, she explained that her biggest concern during those frightening moments was not simply saving herself, but making sure the crippled aircraft did not hurt anyone below.

“I was able to navigate toward open water, successfully avoiding all nearby buildings, paddleboarders, and swimmers,” Tenkley said.

The damaged plane was later recovered from the Atlantic after crews spent hours dismantling it and lifting it out of the water.

The FAA and local authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the mechanical failure.

For Tenkley, however, the terrifying flight ended with something far more precious than a safe landing: a chance to swim away from the wreckage alive.

What began as a routine flight to pick up her parents in the Bahamas became a dramatic battle against mechanical failure — and a remarkable display of quick thinking that may have prevented a far greater disaster

Source: nypost.com