Pilot: Passenger fell out of plane; Miami offshore search continues
A manhunt and homicide investigation continued Thursday afternoon after a pilot reported that a passenger fell from a small plane flying over the Atlantic east of Key Biscayne.
The investigation began about 1:30 p.m. after a pilot who’d taken off from Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport in a Piper PA 46 issued an emergency radio call, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! I have a door ajar and I’m heading toward Tamiami,” the pilot calmly said. “I have a door ajar and a passenger that fell down. I’m six miles from Tamiami.”
“You said you’ve got a passenger that fell out of your plane?” an air traffic controller asks.
“That’s correct, sir,” the pilot responded. “He opened the backdoor and he just fell out the plane.”
The pilot landed safely at Tamiami airport, at which point he requested emergency services for the passenger and the FAA contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, according to agency spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and police then announced they were investigating the incident, and searching for the passenger with helicopters and marine patrol.
“We have reports — I want to emphasize that, reports — of a passenger of a plane that either jumped or fell several miles out from shore. Homicide at this point is investigating,” said Detective Javier Baez, a Miami-Dade Police spokesman. “All that could change. The feds may take this. Who knows?”
Search and rescue crews continued to hunt for the missing passenger in boats and helicopters around 5 p.m., though authorities couldn’t confirm that indeed someone had actually plunged 1,800 feet from a plane, as the pilot reported.
Bergen said the FAA doesn’t release the names of pilots or passengers, and Baez didn’t know the identities of either.
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