The airport director, Ben Morris, had said a couple chartered the plane for an aerial tour of New Orleans and that it encountered a rainstorm about the time of the crash.
Advertisement
A woman survived Friday night’s crash but two men, the pilot and another passenger, remained unaccounted for.
A New Orleans Fire Department boat carrying divers searches for wreckage Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016, near the Seabrook Bridge after a plane crashed into Lake Pontchartrain Saturday night near Lakefront Airport in New Orleans.
Authorities said there were two men and a woman aboard, but a private boat rescued the woman.
“NOPD, U.S. Coast Guard, and New Orleans Fire Department have done their searches, and they’ve done yeoman’s work on that, because it’s very hard to find underwater objects”, Morris said. The wreckage of the plane, a Cessna, was located Sunday morning by the New Orleans Police Department; it is expected to be removed and salvaged on Tuesday.
The airplane had been “on approach to landing during training exercises” at Lakefront Airport on Saturday night, according to the fire department.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
One person in the Cessna was rescued by a good Samaritan who reported the crash at 8:20 p.m. local time (9:20 p.m. ET), the Coast Guard said. NTSB spokesman Terry Williams said the plane was being moved to a secure location where investigators can begin examining the aircraft. Her condition was not available Sunday.
Advertisement
“More information on the two missing passengers should become forthcoming with tomorrow’s recovery effort”. Along with the Coast Guard’s vessels, the police department’s dive team has been using sonar technology to aid in the search. They called in a request for help from the Coast Guard.
