What happened
On November 24, 2025, a Cessna 172N operating as a Part 91 instructional flight crashed near New Orleans, Louisiana. The flight, conducted by Apollo Flight School, was intended to provide instrument flight instruction for a private pilot. The aircraft, registration N80FP, departed from Gulfport-Bilost International Airport (GPT) at approximately 1743 CST.
After departure, the aircraft climbed to 4,000 feet MSL and traveled west-southwest. The flight path later transitioned to a westerly heading while descending to 2,000 feet MSL. At approximately 1814, the aircraft turned to a heading of 250°, followed by a turn to 180° at 1817, positioning the aircraft on a straight-in approach for runway 18R at Lakefront Airport (NEW).
At 1823:02, the aircraft began a tight, descending left turn. This maneuver lasted approximately 27 seconds, ending at 1823:30 when the aircraft was 3.7 nautical miles from the approach end of runway 18R. The aircraft impacted the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and broke apart upon impact. The flight instructor and the student pilot sustained 2 fatal injuries.
At the time of the accident, the aircraft was operating under instrument flight rules (IFR) and had been cleared for the ILS runway 18R approach. Weather conditions at the airport included a ceiling of 800 feet broken, visibility of 10 statute miles, and winds from 130° at 11 knots.
The investigation
Wreckage was recovered from the lake on December 3, 2025. The investigation of the airframe revealed that the wing had separated from the fuselage. While the empennage remained attached to the aft fuselage and flight control continuity was verified, the right wing strut had separated from the wing spar. Aileron control cables exhibited breaks with overload signatures.
Mechanical examination of the engine showed that compression was present on all cylinders. However, the forward two cylinder pushrods and pushrod tubes had separated from the engine and were not recovered. The magnetos were found to be waterlogged. Additionally, the input coupling of the dry vacuum pump was sheared, and the rotor core was cracked.