Cessna 172 goes missing over Lake Pontchartrain. Instructor & student found dead

On November 24, 2025, Cessna 172N N80FP departed Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport on an instrument-training flight toward New Orleans Lakefront Airport. Flight instructor Taylor Dickey and student David Michael Jahn were aboard.

The aircraft was operating at night as it approached the New Orleans area. Flight-track information showed the airplane descending toward the Lakefront Airport area. At about 18:23 local time, it entered a tight descending left turn lasting roughly 27 seconds. The last recorded altitude was about 1,100 feet before radar contact was lost.

The aircraft went down in Lake Pontchartrain. Search efforts followed, involving the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies. The wreckage was eventually located in the lake after the initial search effort had been unsuccessful.

The preliminary investigation documents the flight path and recovery but does not establish a final probable cause. That means the recorded descent can be described, but the reason for the turn and loss of control cannot be presented as a settled finding.

The operational environment was challenging. It was dark over a large body of water, with limited visual references. The available account also describes intermittent cloud cover in the area. Those conditions are relevant to the investigation, but they are not by themselves proof of the cause.

Both occupants died. The accident remains an example of why night instrument training over areas without strong visual references can become difficult when the aircraft's attitude, position or flight path begins to diverge from the expected approach.

What remains unresolved

The preliminary record supports the aircraft identity, route, nighttime operation, descending turn, radar loss, wreckage recovery and fatalities. It does not support a final causal statement. Weather, visual conditions, human factors and the exact sequence inside the cockpit remain matters for the investigation rather than established conclusions.

Accident Facts

Recorded line: “On 24 November 2025, a Cessna 172N Skyhawk (N80FP) crashed into Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans during the approach phase of a training flight.”

Sources

Accident information summarized in the preliminary-investigation record for N80FP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO8606Nz32c