A twin-engine turboprop private plane carrying 11 adults ditched in the Atlantic Ocean about 80 miles off the east coast of Florida on May 12, 2026, after losing both engines midflight. The aircraft was flying from Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island when it experienced an emergency that forced the ditching [1, 2, 3, 4].
The survivors spent roughly five hours afloat in a single life raft before rescue crews arrived [1, 2, 3, 4]. The plane lost both engines, leading pilot Ian Nixon to ditch it safely. Nixon recalled, "Once I hit the water, my first thought was, 'We didn't die'" [1].
Authorities activated the plane's emergency locator transmitter on impact, which helped initiate the search and rescue operation [1, 2, 3, 4]. The US Air Force Reserve 920th Rescue Wing and the Coast Guard responded, delivering supplies and conducting nine helicopter hoists from the raft using an HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter [2, 3, 4]. Captain Rory Whipple described the survivors' condition: "By then the survivors had already been in the raft for about five hours, and we could tell just by looking at them they were in distress, physically, mentally, emotionally" [2].
The rescue helicopter conducted the operation with only about five minutes of fuel remaining, forcing Lieutenant Colonel Matt Johnson to call "bingo time," the moment to depart due to low fuel [2, 3, 4]. Major Elizabeth Piowaty called the survival "pretty miraculous," noting, "I’ve not known anyone to survive ditching in the ocean. And from what I’ve seen, for all those people to survive is pretty miraculous" [2, 3].
Three of the survivors suffered minor injuries in the incident [1]. After extraction, the survivors were flown to Melbourne Orlando International Airport for urgent medical treatment [2, 3, 4].
Reports vary on the exact location of the ditching. Some sources placed it about 80 miles off Melbourne, Florida, while another indicated roughly 175 miles north of Miami [1, 2, 3, 4].
The private plane departed Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, and was en route to Freeport when the emergency occurred, leading to the ditching and subsequent rescue on the same day [1, 2, 3, 4].
