A 23-year-old pilot ditched a twin-engine Piper PA30 in the Atlantic Ocean off Boca Raton Saturday morning after losing an engine and experiencing a landing gear failure, then choosing the water over a runway landing she judged too risky. The pilot, Faith Tenkley, was uninjured and transported to a local hospital as a precaution.
The aircraft departed Page Field in Fort Myers bound for South Bimini Airport in the Bahamas — a 144-nautical-mile overwater leg — to pick up her parents. Around 9:40 a.m., approximately 15 miles west of Boca Raton, Tenkley reported mechanical problems and was cleared for an emergency landing at Boca Raton Airport.
Before she could make the field, the landing gear failed. With the right engine also out and the aircraft still carrying significant fuel, Tenkley determined that a runway landing presented too great a fire risk. She elected to ditch instead, maneuvering around buildings along the coast and avoiding paddleboarders before finding an open stretch of water adjacent to the beach approximately two miles east of Boca Raton Airport.
The landing was smooth enough that the airframe remained intact. A lifeguard reached Tenkley within a minute; Boca Raton Fire Rescue's boat arrived shortly after. Boca Raton Police — including the Marine Unit — and the U.S. Coast Guard secured the area. The FAA is leading the investigation.
The aircraft, a model PA-39, is registered to USOARFlorida LLC of Fort Myers. The Piper PA30 series was manufactured between 1961 and 1972. Tenkley told Gulf Coast News she has been flying for four years.
Clara Bennett, executive director of the Boca Raton Airport Authority, confirmed the aircraft had been cleared to land at the airport before Tenkley diverted to the water. FAA spokeswoman Cassandra Nolan confirmed the ditching location and time to WPBF.
For crew transiting South Florida, the area near 250 S. Ocean Blvd. was closed while the aircraft was recovered. The FAA was on scene and the plane was expected to be removed Sunday.
The decision-making here is straightforward to read from the outside: gear-up landing on a fuel-heavy aircraft on a paved runway carries ignition risk that, for this pilot, outweighed the hazards of an open-water ditching. Two pilots on the beach who spoke to WPBF, neither of whom witnessed the landing, noted the aircraft was in one piece — consistent with the pilot maintaining aircraft control through touchdown.
