Accident Overview
On November 24, 2025, at 1824 central standard time, a Cessna 172N airplane, registration N80FP, was destroyed when it impacted the waters of Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans, Louisiana. The flight instructor and pilot receiving instruction sustained fatal injuries. The flight was conducted under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as an instructional flight.
Flight Path
The purpose of the flight was instrument flight instruction for the private pilot. According to ADS-B data, the airplane departed runway 14 at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport (GPT), Gulfport, Mississippi, about 1743. After departure, it made a right turn, climbed to about 4,000 ft mean sea level (msl), and traveled west-southwest until 1759. It then turned to a westerly heading and descended to about 2,000 ft msl. Around 1814, the airplane turned to a heading of approximately 250° before turning to about 180° around 1817. The heading was consistent with a straight-in approach for runway 18R at Lakefront Airport (NEW), New Orleans, Louisiana. The airplane began descending about 1820, when it was about 6 nautical miles (nm) from NEW. At about 1823:02, it began a tight descending left turn lasting 27 seconds until the last recorded position at 1823:30, which was about 3.7 nm from the approach end of runway 18R at NEW. The final ADS-B position was about 500 ft from the wreckage location.
Preliminary air traffic control (ATC) information indicated that the flight was on an instrument flight rules flight plan and was in communication with ATC controllers. The flight had been cleared for the instrument landing system (ILS) runway 18R approach to NEW.
Weather and Conditions
Reported weather conditions at NEW around the time of the accident included: wind 130° at 11 kts, visibility 10 statute miles, ceiling 800 ft broken, temperature 22°C, and dewpoint 21°C. Sunset occurred at 1700, and the end of civil twilight was at 1726. Moonrise was at 1023, moonset at 2036, and 17% of the moon’s visible disk was illuminated.
Wreckage Examination
The airplane impacted the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and broke apart on impact. The wreckage was located and recovered from the lake on December 3, 2025, and transported to an off-site facility for examination. Most of the airplane wreckage was recovered, including the majority of the fuselage, wings, tail surfaces, engine, and propeller. Some small portions of the airframe were not recovered. The empennage, including elevators and rudder, remained attached to the aft fuselage, and continuity of the empennage flight controls was verified to the cockpit controls. The wing had separated from the bulk of the fuselage. Portions of all wing flight control surfaces were recovered and remained attached to separated portions of the wing structure. Flap and aileron control continuity was verified, with all cable breaks exhibiting overload signatures or having been cut during recovery. The forward main wing spars were continuous from root to tip. The left wing strut remained attached to the left wing spar at its upper end, with the lower end separated from the fuselage and a portion of the fuselage still attached. The right wing strut had separated from the wing spar; the upper strut fitting remained attached to the wing spar, and the lower end was separated from the fuselage with a portion still attached.
The engine was manually rotated, and compression was verified on all cylinders. The forward two cylinder pushrods and pushrod tubes had separated from the engine and were not recovered. Movement of the rear cylinder rocker arms and forward cylinder tappets was verified with crankshaft rotation. The magnetos were water logged and would not produce spark when rotated; they were partially disassembled, and the contact points opened and closed as expected upon rotation of the input shafts. The dry vacuum pump was removed, and the input coupling was sheared; the rotor core was cracked, and the vanes were intact.