GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - Michael Carastro, the owner of Apollo Flight Training and Aircraft Management, said the instructor and student who were on board the small plane that left from Million Air in Gulfport and crashed into Lake Pontchartrain are presumed dead.

Their identities are not being released at this time.

Carastro said the instructor was highly qualified. “She was coming up on 1,200 to 1,300 hours, which makes her about 200 short of meeting her requirements for the airlines, which was her ultimate goal,” said Carastro.

“The other had the same aspirations, but he was just getting his commercial instrument license.”

The single-engine Cessna 172N left Gulfport at 5:45 p.m. on Monday, headed to New Orleans. Around 6:23 p.m., the plane lost radio contact about four miles offshore

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