What happened
On April 2, 2025, a Cessna 210L, registration N1574P, crashed into a marsh approximately 7.5 nautical miles north of Houma-Terrebonne Airport (HUM). The flight was being operated by Southern Seaplane, Inc. as a Part 91 instructional flight. The purpose of the flight was to provide the pilot, who had recently reached 500 hours of total flight experience, with night flight experience and to conduct an instrument proficiency check. The crew consisted of the pilot and a flight instructor.
The intended flight plan involved departing from Southern Seaplane Airport (65LA) in Belle Chase, Louisiana, performing an instrument landing system (ILS) approach at HUM, continuing to South Lafourche Leonard Miller Jr. Airport (GAO) for another instrument approach, and returning to 65LA.
Flight track data shows the aircraft departed 65LA around 2000 central daylight time and headed west. The crew contacted New Orleans Approach to request a practice ILS approach into HUM and subsequently requested instrument flight rules (IFR) clearance to fly through clouds. The controller provided vectors for the Runway 18 ILS approach and granted a request to climb to 3,000 feet MSL to avoid turbulence. After being cleared for the approach and instructed to change to the HUM advisory frequency, the aircraft ceased all communications.
At the time of the accident, weather at HUM included an overcast ceiling of 1,400 feet, visibility of 7 statute miles, and winds from 140 degrees at 19 knots, gusting to 26 knots.
The accident resulted in 2 fatalities.
The investigation
The aircraft impacted the marsh in a manner consistent with a near-vertical impact. While the wreckage was confined to a small area, the engine and all three propeller blades were recovered. Examination confirmed that all primary aircraft structures and flight control surfaces were present, though the instrument panel and firewall were not located during the recovery process.