The Smart Marty Sky Dispatch
Wreckage of Key Biscayne helicopter crash pulled from water
Crews pulled the helicopter involved in the Key Biscayne crash from the water in a careful operation as investigators work to determine what caused it to go down. NBC6’s Trish Christakis reports
A helicopter crash occurred in Biscayne Bay near Key Biscayne, with initial reports indicating the aircraft went down in the water near Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. NBC 6 South Florida reported that two men were rescued from the water as rescuers from multiple local agencies, the U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection converged on the scene to assist those involved, and that a dramatic image showed a federal agent pulling survivors from the water. The reporting emphasized the broad, multi-agency response but did not provide a specific time beyond noting responders arrived and the operation was ongoing.
CBS News, citing Miami-Dade authorities and corroborating coverage from NBC 6 and WSVN, identified the helicopter as a Robinson R44 II and named the pilot as Tomas Pendas, who was reported to have died in the incident. CBS News stated that two additional occupants were injured, later named as Ryan McCoy and Ryan Ferraro, and that the crash occurred during a flight to film boats on the water. CBS News described the location as the Biscayne Bay area near Bill Baggs State Park off Key Biscayne. CBS News also noted that two helicopters and boats answered the Biscayne Bay scene and that a broad multi-agency response converged to assist and secure the site.
NBC 6 South Florida’s coverage reiterated a broad, multi-agency response with rescuers from several local agencies, the U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection assisting those involved. NBC 6 stated that two men were rescued from the water and included a depiction of a federal agent pulling the survivors from the water. The station did not provide precise timing, exact coordinates beyond Biscayne Bay, or details about injuries at that time, and did not publish aircraft specifics beyond the later CBS identification of the Robinson R44 II.
WSVN’s initial reporting indicated two injuries and at least one fatality, with rescue and recovery operations continuing as investigators assessed the scene near Key Biscayne. WPEC, echoed by WSVN, placed the crash near Nixon Beach off Crandon Boulevard southwest of Key Biscayne and reported that two survivors and the person believed deceased were located at the wreckage area by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel and investigators, noting the helicopter’s yellow floats visible in the water.
On-scene details described by WPEC included imagery of a yellow tarp covering the person believed to have died and paramedics preparing the two surviving individuals for transport to a hospital. WPEC noted that the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office had taken over the investigation into the crash and that no cause had been released initially.
Facebook reports summarized some of the same facts, including that the Robinson R44 II was piloted by 63-year-old Tomas Pendas and crashed into Biscayne Bay near Bill Baggs State Park on a flight to film boats on the water. Facebook material also echoed CBS News in naming the two injured occupants as Ryan McCoy and Ryan Ferraro, and cited the FAA’s timeline placing the downing around 11 a.m. on the event day described by CBS News. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations later located the two injured individuals and assisted in transporting them to a dock at No Name Harbor, with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue then airlifting them to a local hospital in critical but stable condition.
The investigation into the crash, as described in the material, was led by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, with authorities indicating that the cause of the incident was not yet known and no definitive statement on causes had been released in the early reporting. The authorities were described as actively conducting rescue, recovery, and investigative operations at the Biscayne Bay scene, with the wreckage and the helicopter’s floats referenced in on-scene descriptions by multiple outlets. NBC 6, CBS News, WSVN, and WPEC all presented the core facts of a fatal pilot and two injured occupants, with the on-scene work continuing as investigators assessed the scene near Key Biscayne.
A separate set of reporting from WPLG Local 10 is not directly connected to the Key Biscayne helicopter crash; instead, it describes a different breaking-news topic about drone activity over Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., and does not provide details about the Biscayne Bay incident, its aircraft, or its outcomes. No other credible material in the provided sources attributes injuries, fatalities, or causes beyond what was reported by NBC 6, CBS News, WSVN, WPEC, and related outlets in the Biscayne Bay crash coverage.