Desperate search as passenger 'falls out of aircraft into sea over Florida'

• A pilot made a mayday call reporting a passenger had fallen from his light aircraft
• The call came in around 1:30pm Thursday from southeast of Miami
• Coast Guard and Fire Rescue air and water units are searching the area
• The pilot told air traffic control that the passenger had opened a door and fallen from the plane

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

PUBLISHED: 03:33 GMT, 15 November 2013 | UPDATED: 07:20 GMT, 15 November 2013

A desperate search is underway in an area southeast of Miami after a pilot reported to the Federal Aviation Administration that a passenger fell out of his small plane into the ocean Thursday.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen says the call came at 1:30pm Thursday from the pilot of a Piper PA 46 aircraft. The plane was flying at about 2,000 feet when the call came in, she said.

Coast Guard and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue air and water units were searching an area about eight miles southeast of Tamiami Executive Airport, south of Miami, where the plane safely landed. It wasn’t immediately clear where the flight originated or how many people were on board.

According to a recording on the website LiveATC.Net, the unidentified pilot calmly radioed 'mayday, mayday, mayday,' and told an air traffic controller a door was ajar.

'I have a door ajar and a passenger that fell down. I'm six miles from Tamiami,' the pilot says.

'You said you've got a passenger that fell out of your plane?’' the air traffic controller responds.

'That’s correct, sir,' the pilot responded. 'He opened the back door and he just fell out the plane.'

FULL STORY: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2507674/Desperate-search-pa...