14 DAY TRIAL // A passenger fell out of a small private plane on Thursday, landing in the waters at Miami's Biscayne Bay.
The plane was flying at 1,800 feet (550 meters) and headed for Tamiami Executive Airport when the passenger opened the back door and somehow fell out.
"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! I have a door ajar and I'm heading toward Tamiami. [...] I have a door ajar and a passenger that fell down. I'm six miles (9.7 km) from Tamiami," the pilot yelled out while contacting air traffic control.
"You said you've got a passenger that fell out of your plane?" the controller responded, as reported by ABC News.
The pilot confirmed the account, still in dismay.
"That's correct, sir. He opened the backdoor and he just fell out the plane," he said.
The Piper PA 46 was just eight miles southeast of the airport at 1:30 p.m when the call came in, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen details.
The person falling out is still to be located, Petty Officer Mark Barney says. His chances at survival are slim.
"We don’t assume anything. [...] We’re treating it as a search and rescue operation and going from there," Barney states for NY Daily News.
An investigation into the timeline of events is being conducted, with police interviewing the pilot.
"[We are] talking to the pilot to see what transpired before the passenger fell from the plane," a source with Tamiami Airport detectives mentions.
Authorities have narrowed down the search perimeter to the area between the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne and the seashore.
Divers with the Miami-Dade police department were sent out for the operation. Barney mentions that three Miami-Dade Police boats and a Coast Guard rescue boat, as well as a Dade County Fire Rescue Helicopter have been used in the search.