Florida pilot spends night in gator-infested swamp after crashing small plane in Everglades

A Florida pilot spent over six hours clinging to the wreckage of his small plane after it crashed in an alligator-infested Everglades swamp early Tuesday morning, according to rescue crews.

The unidentified pilot crashed-landed a single-engine Cessna Skyhawk in a remote section of the Everglades near Miami Lakes around 4 a.m., about an hour after he took off from Lake Okeechobee.

A flightpath on the website Flight Aware showed the plane dropping suddenly from about 2,000 feet, before regaining altitude momentarily and then nosediving in a spiral into the wetland.

It wasn’t till about 10 a.m. that authorities were alerted about the crash, and set about organizing a rescue operation.

“The area that he was in was hard to access by airboats,” Miami Dade Fire Rescue Captain Andy Borges told NBC 6 South Florida, explaining they chose to send in a chopper to save the pilot.

When rescuers arrived, they found the pilot shirtless and standing on the wings of the wrecked plane. His leg was wrapped in an improvised tourniquet, which he appeared to have fashioned from his shirt.

The plane’s crumpled fuselage was submerged beneath the brown waters.

“He was out there since four in the morning, so it’s alligators and mosquitos and everything else that is out there,” Borges said. “A little dehydrated. So, very happy to see us.”

Hovering over the wreckage, a rescuer was lowered from the chopper with a harness and the pilot was hoisted to safety.

“To be able to seemingly walk away with just a leg injury after putting an aircraft down in the Everglades with the thick brush is an amazing feat in itself,” Broward Sheriff’s Office fire chief Michael Kane told CBS Miami. “We’re very grateful that he’s okay.”

The pilot was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

His plane originated from the Pilot Training Center, which first notified authorities of the crash after the flight was overdue.

“Everything is fine, the pilot is fine, thank you very much,” the flight school told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The pilot likely had to wait for help until the flight center realized the plane was missing because all his communications devices were submerged, Kane said.