Small plane makes emergency landing in Florida Everglades

U.S. Coast Guard rescues 2 people on board

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. – The U.S. Coast Guard rescued two people after the small airplane in which they were traveling made an emergency landing in the Florida Everglades.

A Cessna landed in a desolate area of western Palm Beach County on Friday morning.

The Coast Guard hoisted the pilot and passenger into a rescue helicopter and returned them to the Pompano Beach Executive Airport.

David Needham told Local 10 News he was taking water samples in the Everglades when he saw the plane fly by.

A check of the tail number revealed that the plane was registered to an owner in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The pilot reported an engine malfunction, forcing him to land the plane on a dirt road in the middle of the Everglades.

"This was probably the safest location that they could put it down," Jacob Tuttle, assistant manager of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, told Local 10.

The Coast Guard said the pilot and another man aboard the plane, were not injured in the landing.

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