Female pilot, Navy officer flight student presumed dead after plane crash in New Orleans lake

A flight instructor and her student — a father-to-be and US Navy officer — are presumed dead after their plane plummeted into a New Orleans lake, according to authorities and reports.

Taylor Dickey, 30, and her student, later identified as 30-year-old Navy Lt. David Michael Jahn, took off from Gulfport–Biloxi International Airport in a Cessna Skyhawk on Monday, the Coast Guard told WWL 4.

The plane vanished from the flight radar at roughly 6:30 p.m., four miles north of New Orleans Lakefront Airport, the outlet said.

There was no distress call from the aircraft, and it is not immediately clear who was in the pilot’s seat when the plane crashed into Lake Pontchartrain, Michael Carastro, the owner of the flight school that owned the plane, said in a press conference on Tuesday.

The impact of the plane into the lake was “very, very violent,” Carastro added.

An hour after it vanished, search teams saw discoloration in the water, and Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries personnel recovered a seat cushion and other debris likely from the aircraft, the Coast Guard told the outlet.

The search continued for nearly two days before it was suspended on Wednesday afternoon, according to Nola.com

Jahn and Dickey were both presumed dead after the crash, Carastro said.

“Nobody knows what happened at this point. The initial, the preliminary data, indicates that it was not mechanical, so we are going to wait on the official agencies that are investigating the operation. I’m not gonna make any suppositions on how it happened,” he added.

Dickey was a “highly qualified” pilot, and the aircraft that plunged into the lake was well maintained, Carastro continued.

“It was an unbelievable tragedy,” he told reporters.

“I’ve been instructing for 46 years. I’ve never, never, had this. It’s my first. So it’s hitting me pretty hard, as well as the rest of the employees here at Apollo and Million Air, because both individuals were very well-liked. And so we’re devastated,” he said.

Jahn was identified by the US Navy as a civil engineer corps officer serving with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 1 in Gulfport and a father-to-be, Nola.com reported.

He was in the midst of training for his commercial pilot’s license and was just short of the required 250 flight hours, Carastro said.

“David was a man of God and dedicated to his family. His character will live on in his wife and their expected child,” his family said in a statement obtained by the outlet through the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command.

“He loved the gift of life and embraced living to the fullest, with a love of exploring, adventure, and travel, always guided by Jesus, and his service to others and his country,” his family continued.

A Change.org petition has since been created to change the official name of the Gulfport-Biloxi Airport Authority to “Taylor Dickey Field.”

“This naming addition would honor the life, legacy, and impact of Taylor Dickey, a distinguished flight instructor, aviation leader, and community contributor who tragically passed away during an instructional flight originating from Gulfport,” the petition said.

“Taylor Dickey was widely recognized as a highly skilled and dedicated Certified Flight Instructor, known not only for her technical proficiency but also for her exceptional ability to mentor, inspire, and connect with her students,” it continued.

Dickey was also the President of the Bayou Beacons, the local chapter of Women in Aviation International, and strongly encouraged women to pursue flight training throughout her accomplished career, the petition added.

More wreckage from the plane was located using specialized sonar, dive operations, and a K-9 search, local nonprofit United Cajun Navy said in a Facebook update Sunday.

The authority has since turned over the recovery findings to the “proper authorities.”

The FAA, Coast Guard and US Navy did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.