Hero pilot recounts crash landing in Atlantic Ocean

U.S. Hero pilot recounts crash landing, rescue in Atlantic Ocean: "My first thought was, 'We didn't die'" By Cristian Benavides Cristian Benavides Correspondent, CBS Newspath Cristian Benavides is a CBS News correspondent based in Miami. Read Full Bio Cristian Benavides May 14, 2026 / 8:57 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google The pilot credited with saving the lives of 10 passengers on board a small plane after it crash landed about 50 nautical miles off the east coast of Florida told CBS News he lost both engines, all communication and avionics in the lead-up to the crash."Basically, lost my navigation, all radios — flying over 25 years and I've never seen anything like that," said Ian Nixon, the 43-year-old Bahamian pilot and father of three, who has already returned to Nassau following the ordeal. "I did my best. I had a lot of stuff going on in the aircraft — just trying to get that under control."The Bahamian government arranged transportation home after he received treatment for minor injuries at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Florida, he said. The pilot said he tried to radio for help when he noticed issues with the Beechcraft King Air 300: first losing one engine, then the second."I wasn't able to reach anybody on the radio for a while. I tried to call Freeport, [Bahamas]; I tried to call Miami radio," he said. "I don't know if they were hearing me, but I didn't get a response."All 11 people on board were taken to Florida hospital, with three suffering minor injuries, after being rescued by the 920th Rescue Wing, an elite U.S. Air Force unit specifically trained to carry out search and rescue efforts. Nixon and the passengers floated on a life raft for hours, not knowing if their beacon had turned on as designed during the crash and thus unaware anyone was even looking for them.While on the life raft, battling rough weather, Nixon remembers declaring, "In the next 10 minutes a plane is going to come. And then one of the pas...