N80FPCessna 172N · 1978

On November 24, 2025, at 1824 central standard time, a Cessna 172N airplane, N80FP, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near New Orleans, Louisiana. The flight instructor and pilot receiving instruction were fatally injured. The flight was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight.

It was reported that the purpose of the flight was instrument flight instruction for the private pilot. ADS-B data showed that the airplane departed from runway 14 at the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport (GPT), Gulfport, Mississippi, about 1743. The airplane made a right turn after departure, 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 About 1814, the airplane turned to a heading of approximately 250° before turning to a heading of about 180° about 1817. The airplane was on a heading consistent with a straight-in approach for runway 18R at the Lakefront Airport (NEW), New Orleans, Louisiana. The airplane began descending about 1820, when the airplane was about 6 nautical miles (nm) from NEW, about 1823:02, the airplane began a tight descending left turn that lasted about 27 seconds until the last recorded position at 1823:30. The final recorded position was about 3.7 nm from the approach end of runway 18R at NEW. The final ADS-B position was about 500 ft from where the wreckage of the airplane was located.

Preliminary air traffic control (ATC) information indicated that the flight was on an instrument rules flight plan and was in communication with ATC controllers at the time of the accident. The flight had been cleared for the instrument landing system (ILS), runway 18R approach to NEW.

Figure 1. A 3-dimensional representation of the final portion of the airplane’s flight path.

The 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.

On the day of the accident, sunset occurred at 1700 and the end of civil twilight was at 1726. The moonrise was at 1023, moonset was at 2036, and 17% of the moon’s visible disk was illuminated.

The airplane impacted the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and broke apart on impact. The wreckage was located and then 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 airplane’s empennage, including the elevators and rudder remained attached to the aft fuselage. Continuity of the empennage flight controls was verified to the cockpit controls. The airplane’s 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 control continuity was verified. Aileron control continuity was verified with all cable breaks exhibiting overload signatures or having been cut during the recovery of the airplane. 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. The lower end of the strut was separated from the fuselage with a portion of the fuselage still attached to the bottom of the strut. The right wing strut had separated from the wing spar. The upper strut fitting remained attached to the wing spar. The lower end of the strut was separated from the fuselage with a portion of the fuselage still attached to the bottom of the strut.

The airplane’s 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. The magnetos were partially disassembled and the contact points were observed to open end close 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.