Father and son rescued after plane makes emergency landing into the ocean

By WILKO MARTÍNEZ-CACHERO, US REPORTER Published: 06:53, 13 July 2026 | Updated: 06:55, 13 July 2026 A father and son were rescued when their plane was forced to make an emergency landing in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida's coast. Their small aircraft came down about 25 yards from Honeymoon Island State Park on Sunday afternoon, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Deputies responded to the scene around 12.38pm, with Deputy Geoff Moore saying that the pilot had successfully brought the plane down safely. 'Neither subject was injured, and both were able to walk to shore,' Moore told WFLA. The father, who owns the aircraft but asked the outlet to not be named, confirmed that his son, who is a minor, was unharmed. He suffered only a small scratch to his hand as part of the emergency landing. The 1974 Mooney M20F plane was later pulled from the water, authorities added, as they praised the 'impressive' landing. 'I would assume the pilot must have had some hours under his belt but it's a very impressive feat that no one was injured,' Moore told WTSP. A 1974 Mooney M20F plane with a father and son went down about 25 yards from Honeymoon Island State Park on Sunday afternoon The emergency landing was made around 12.38pm, with Pinellas County authorities praising the pilot's 'impressive' landing in the water Moore said the plane had experienced engine trouble prior to being forced to go down, though no further details were immediately provided. A beachgoer, Beth Ann Bologna, was in the water when she realized that a plane was plummeting. 'I was in my little blue noodle, and the next thing you know, we look down there and I go, 'That's a plane,' Bologna told WFLA. She added that the aircraft had gone 'boom, boom boom' before landing. 'The next thing we knew, a kid popped out and the dad, now we know that put a life preserver on him and then the dad came out,' she told WTSP. The beachgoer said that the person in charge of the plane 'was a great pilot.' 'I'm an ex-flight attendant, so I just kind of went running to the plane and it was a perfect landing,' she said. Authorities said the plane was later pulled from the water and that a fuel leak that was being monitored did not appear to be a concern The plane experienced engine trouble before being forced to make the emergency landing, authorities said Meanwhile, jet-ski rider Lukas Gendron said he was about 100 feet from the aircraft when it landed. Gendron, who ran to help once the plane was on the ground, said it was 'very good that a lot of us will drop things and forget everything and think about humanity.' 'It's all about making sure people are fine, especially when it comes to something so serious like this,' he told WFLA. A beach visitor from Houston, Archer Poreda, said he had 'never seen anything like this.' 'I've seen a couple of other smaller incidents happen down in Texas where I'm from but this is new,' Poreda told WTSP. After the plane made its emergency landing, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said that its dive team had noticed a 'small fuel leak' into the water. In a later update, the Dunedin Fire Department said it continued to monitor the leak into the ocean. However, it did 'not appear to be a concern at this time,' authorities added. The Daily Mail has reached out to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and the Federal Aviation Administration for comment.