Authorities said a Cessna plane that crashed into Lake Ponchartrain near the Lakefront Airport was carrying a couple from Baton Rouge taking an aerial tour of the Crescent City.
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A woman survived Friday night’s crash but two men remained unaccounted for Monday.
The fire department said Sunday the crash happened during a training exercise as the pilot attempted to land the plane at Lakefront Airport.
The plane will be pulled out of Lake Pontchartrain, according to Capt. Edwin Holmes, who says there should be more information then.
Search crews have found wreckage from a plane that went down Saturday evening in Lake Pontchartrain.
On Sunday morning, the police department initially reported that the wrecked plane had been recovered, but quickly backpedaled after determining they had actually found unrelated debris.
A Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and a 29-foot Response Boat-Small crew from Coast Guard Station New Orleans have been doing search patterns in the area since the initial report of the crash.
Morris said the pilot was in his 50s and had decades of flying experience.
Officials said the female passenger managed to exit the aircraft and was rescued by civilian boaters.
Massey said a private yacht picked up the woman, who was taken to Ochsner Hospital.
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Lake Pontchartrain is a roughly triangular tidal basin about 40 miles east to west, and 24 miles across at its widest north-south point, and covering about 630 square miles. Her condition was unknown Monday.
