23-year-old pilot deliberately ditched her family’s plane in open water after a malfunction, then revealed why she made this selfless decision

A female pilot reportedly ditched her Piper PA30 propeller plane in the sea to avoid a crash and protect others. The woman pilot, who was flying to the Bahamas, had to make this decision after her aircraft suffered a significant malfunction. 

As reported by Dexerto, a 23-year-old woman pilot named Faith Tenkley saved people who could have been in the plane crash. She was headed to the Bahamas, but instead of going across the Caribbean, she had no choice but to divert the plane after she sensed a malfunction not just in the landing gear but as well as in one of the airplane’s engines. Faith was returning to Boca Raton Airport, but because of the severity of the malfunction, she couldn’t land, and her propeller could have hurt anyone, so she made the selfless decision. The 23-year-old safely got out of the plane and swam to the coast after falling. 

In an interview with WPTV, she declared that the option to make it back to the airport wasn’t the safest. She stated, “I am incredibly fortunate and relieved to share that I was able to swim away from this incident.” She added, “I was able to navigate toward open water, successfully avoiding all nearby buildings, paddleboarders, and swimmers (as well as individuals using metal detectors).”

The incident also gained significant traction on social media

The video of the incident also gained traction on social media, with several being enthusiastic towards the pilot for carrying out a responsible act, as one of the comments stated, “Florida is kinda awesome! The Floridian pilot did everything right to give herself the best odds to survive, and the lifeguard got there in a flash!” Another one added, “SMART PILOT and Hero Life guards.   BRAVO WELL DONE BY ALL.”

The user who shared the footage appears to be one of the eyewitnesses, as they wrote in the caption, “I ran down the beach and caught up to it, saw the passenger safely on shore and watched the plane begin sinking into the water. Incredible job by the pilot landing safely in such a difficult situation!”

The authorities have now removed it from the crash site, as reported by Local10 News. They reportedly took the plane out of the water before loading it onto a bed of semi-trucks. The FAA has started an investigation to determine what exactly went wrong. No reports have provided insight into the final conclusion yet.