UPDATE: Identity of instructor pilot on downed plane in Lake Pontchartrain released; volunteer search efforts continue

We now know the identity of one of the Mississippi Gulf Coast-based pilots onboard the Cessna plane that went down while over Lake Pontchartrain Monday night.

Apollo Flight Training owner Michael Carastro told WXXV Friday that 30-year-old Taylor Dickey was a contract flight instructor for Apollo, with more than 1200 flight hours recorded.

Dickey and the student pilot aboard the Cessna Skyhawk aircraft are presumed dead, and their bodies have not yet been recovered. The identity of the student pilot is not being released at this time.

The plane took off from Gulfport just before 5:45 PM Monday night, and lost contact with the ground at 6:23 PM.

Since the Coast Guard suspended search operations Wednesday afternoon, volunteers with the United Cajun Navy have gone out to search for the wreckage of the plane.

Carastro says crews recently found more of the plane’s wreckage, but are still trying to locate the main part of the fuselage.

The FAA and NTSB are now investigating the cause of the crash.