Rescuers searched for the two men who had been aboard the plane.
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The Cessna 172 crashed into Lake Pontchartrain while attempting to land Saturday night at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport, plunging into waters about 1,000 yards off the runway.
The New Orleans Fire Department said divers found the wreckage Sunday afternoon.
Shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday, a joint recovery operation of the New Orleans Fire Department, Police Department and U.S. Coast Guard raised the plane from the lake.
The bodies were inside a small plane that crashed last weekend. Video footage showed the plane being pulled from the waters still intact.
“The couple had hired the aircraft to take them on a night time flight around the city of New Orleans”, Lakefront Airport Director Ben Morris said. A woman was rescued from the scene and taken to a local hospital. He said the bodies of the pilot and one passenger were in the plane’s cabin.The passenger was identified as Reginald Hillard Jr., 25, by family members.
Morris held little hope that the two men survived.
First reports from the New Orleans Fire Department said the plane was on a training exercise but Morris and the Coast Guard said Monday it was on a tour.
Hilliard was a great swimmer; that’s why family members said they believe he pushed his girlfriend out of the plane. There was no immediate information on whether the men’s bodies were inside the aircraft. He was a rapper and tattoo artist based in Baton Rouge. NTSB spokesman Terry Williams said the plane was being moved to a secure location where investigators can begin examining the aircraft.
Friends and family members said the pilot, Biondo, lived to fly and had decades of experience.
Federal officials are investigating the crash to determine the cause.
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Morris says the chartered plane was on a sightseeing tour Saturday night when they apparently encountered a thunderstorm.
