NEW ORLEANS – Two days after a plane crashed into Lake Pontchartrain, two men are still missing.
As a New Orleans Fire Department Fire Boat headed out to patrol the crash site, Chink Sumas and Bob Weiss were returning after a morning spent catching trout.
.
"Every day we're happy to get up, and thankful for every day, and that's the only way you can look at it," Weiss said.
It started out Saturday evening with a man and woman enjoying a sightseeing flight across New Orleans, with a pilot known for his abilities and experience. However, the attempt to land ended tragically.
"The couple had hired the aircraft to take them on a night time flight around the city of New Orleans," said Lakefront Airport Director Ben Morris. "They did that, they were coming back in, and again, it appears they hit a little rain shower, a very significant rain shower, a rainstorm. They were making their approach to the airport, and at that point they disappeared off the radar."
The female passenger got out of the sinking plane and was rescued.
"It's a very sad thing, because she did tell us that she and her boyfriend were holding hands when she slipped out of the aircraft," Morris said.
Divers located the plane just 1,000 feet short of the Lakefront Airport runway Sunday. Rescuers searched for the two men who had been aboard the plane.
"NOPD, U.S. Coast Guard, and New Orleans Fire Department have done their searches, and they've done yeoman's work on that, because it's very difficult to find underwater objects," Morris said.
A crane mounted on a barge arrives after midnight, so the attempt to lift the plane out of the water starts Tuesday morning. For the families, the wait for news has been horrific.
"They were here the last two days, so obviously it is a very traumatic event for them," Morris said.