A 23-year-old pilot walked away unhurt Saturday after ditching her family's twin-engine plane in the Atlantic Ocean off Boca Raton, Florida, in a landing that stunned beachgoers and was caught on camera from the shore.

What happened

Faith Tenkley, a licensed pilot of four years, was flying the Piper from Page Field in Fort Myers to Bimini, Bahamas to pick up her parents when she suffered a landing-gear malfunction followed by a right-engine failure about 15 miles west of Boca Raton, according to Fox News. With the aircraft recently refueled, Tenkley judged a hard runway landing at Boca Raton Airport too risky, fearing it could spark a fire, and opted to bring the plane down in open water instead.

▶ CNN video coverage of the emergency water landing off Boca Raton, Florida. ↗

Beachgoer footage shows Tenkley maneuvering the crippled plane around coastal buildings and paddleboarders before finding a clear stretch of water next to South Beach Park and bringing it down around 9:40 a.m. local time. A lifeguard reached her within about a minute; she was taken to the hospital as a precaution and was not seriously injured.

One second I'm spraying sunscreen on my kid. The next I'm looking up and saying, 'Is that supposed to be happening?'

a beachgoer who witnessed the landing
Split image: the plane''s tail sticking out of the ocean water, and beachgoers on shore filming the scene
Beachgoers filmed the dramatic landing and its aftermath from shore.

Why it went viral

Video of the landing spread quickly across social media over the weekend, with clips showing the plane's tail jutting out of the water as rescue boats closed in. Coverage has since been picked up by outlets including CNN, NBC News, Fox News and multiple local Florida stations, with much of the attention focused on Tenkley's calm decision-making under pressure to protect both herself and people on the ground.