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Beechcraft King Air with 11 Aboard Crash-Lands in Atlantic Off Florida After Dual Engine and Avionics Failure
Ian Nixon, a 43-year-old pilot with more than 25 years of experience, safely ditched a chartered Beechcraft King Air 300 carrying 11 people about 50 nautical miles off Florida's east coast on May 12, 2026. All aboard survived after floating for hours on a life raft and being rescued by the U.S. Air Force's 920th Rescue Wing.
May 15, 5:05 PM·2m read1 source
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A Beechcraft King Air 300 crash landed in the Atlantic Ocean about 50 nautical miles off the east coast of Florida on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, after its pilot lost both engines, all navigation, all radios and all avionics. Ian Nixon, the 43-year-old Bahamian pilot and father of three who has been flying since he was 18, told CBS News he had been flying for over 25 years and had never seen anything like it.
"lost all navigation, all radios — flying over 25 years and I've never seen anything like that," Nixon said.
"I did my best. " The chartered flight had departed Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas' Abaco Islands en route to Freeport, Grand Bahama, a trip scheduled to last about 20 minutes. Nixon first lost one engine, then the second.
He tried to radio Freeport, Bahamas, and Miami radio but received no response. "I wasn't able to reach anybody on the radio for a while.
I don't know if they were hearing me, but I didn't get a response," he said. All 11 people on board survived the crash landing. Nixon and the passengers floated on a life raft for hours in rough weather, uncertain whether their beacon had activated.
That's one of the things I remembered. We didn't die, let's get down," Nixon recalled. While on the raft, Nixon declared that in the next 10 minutes a plane would come. U.S. Air Force plane spotted the survivors.
Olympia Outten, a passenger who was recovering at a Florida hospital, told CBS News they had been alone on the water. "We was just in the lonely water, nobody was around. I said, 'Oh lord! '" Outten said.
