A small plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Boca Ratón, Florida, on Saturday morning, and its pilot— the only person on board— was taken to a hospital as a precaution after surviving the impact, local authorities reported.
Emergency teams from Boca Raton Fire Rescue and local police arrived at the area of 250 S. Ocean Blvd. around 10:25 in the morning after receiving reports of a small engine aircraft that had crashed into the sea.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified the aircraft as a Piper PA-30 and confirmed that the flight had taken off from Page Field in Fort Myers, heading to South Bimini Airport in the Bahamas.
«A Piper PA30 crashed into the ocean 2 miles east of Boca Raton Airport in Florida, at around 10:40 a.m. local time,» the FAA stated in an official announcement, specifying that only the pilot was on board.
Officials at Boca Raton Airport clarified that the aircraft had not taken off from that facility, although it did have authorization to land there when the emergency was declared.
According to a report from BocaNewsNow, the pilot is said to be a 23-year-old woman who reported an electrical problem shortly after takeoff, leading her to head towards the ocean. This information has not yet been confirmed by official authorities.
The pilot was unharmed and was hospitalized only as a precaution, confirmed the Boca Raton police.
The accident was witnessed by beachgoers who recorded how the plane flew at a very low altitude over the surface of the water before crashing. "That’s unexpected. I don't think that's a plane designed for landing on water," a witness is heard saying in one of the videos broadcast by CBS News.
In the scene were the United States Coast Guard and the marine unit of the Boca Raton police, while the FAA was heading to the location to begin the formal investigation. The involvement of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was also anticipated.
The Boca Raton area has been the site of several aircraft accidents in recent years. In April 2025, a Cessna 310R crashed near Military Trail and Glades Road, resulting in the death of three family members. Months later, a small plane fell in a residential area of Lake Worth Beach, in Palm Beach County, leaving at least seven injured.
The crashed aircraft was scheduled to be retrieved from the water this Sunday, while the exact cause of the incident remains under official investigation.
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