NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Fire Department says two bodies have been found in the wreckage of a small plane that crashed into Lake Pontchartrain just north of the New Orleans Lakefront Airport Saturday night. 
 
 Spokesman Gregory Davis said the Cessna was pulled from the water Tuesday morning by a crane and the aircraft was placed on a barge. He said the bodies of the pilot and one passenger were in the plane's cabin.The passenger was identified as Reginald Hillard Jr., 25, by family members. The pilot has yet to be identified. 
 
 "They said that he was in the plane. I still didn't believe it," said Reginald Hillard Sr., of Baton Rouge, who was at the lakefront. 
 
 Hillard Sr. was told of the official identification minutes after the plane was pulled from the water three days after the crash. 
 
 Relatives said Reginald was afraid of flying, but put aside his fears when his girlfriend, Brianna Davis, surprised him with an aerial tour of the city. 
 
 A family member said Reginald was able to unbuckle Davis from her seat and push her out of the aircraft after it hit the water. 
 
 Davis was able to get out of the sinking plane and was rescued by a nearby boater. 
 
 "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." 
 
 "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. 
 
 Family members were at the site as the plane was pulled from the water and lifted onto the barge. 
 
 Divers located the plane just 1,000 feet short of the Lakefront Airport runway Sunday. 
 
 A crane mounted on a barge was brought in Monday evening to lift the plane out of the water. ||||| The wreckage from a plane crash in Lake Pontchartrain over the weekend was recovered Tuesday morning. 
 
 Equipment was moved into place to retrieve the wreckage of the small plane that crashed into the lake just north of the New Orleans Lakefront Airport. 
 
 Show Transcript Hide Transcript HOUR. BACKUP. GINA: RIGHT NOW CREWS ARE FROM LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN. IT WENT DOWN AS IT WAS APPROACHING THE RUNWAY AT THE LAKEFRONT AIRPORT OVER THE WEEKEND. CHARLES: TWO OF THE THREE PEOPLE ON BOARD THE PLANE ARE STILL MISSING THIS MORNING. IS LIVE THIS MORNING FROM THE LAKEFRONT. REPORTER LET ME SHOW YOU BEHIND ME. THEY ARE GOING TO ASSIST AND THE RECOVERY EFFORT THIS MORNING. DIVERS ARE GOING INTO THE WATER TO ATTACH FUSELAGE. INVESTIGATORS WITH THE FEDERAL AVIATION COMMISSION WILL EXAMINE THE PLANE. . ONLY ONE WOMAN SURVIVED. THE AIRPORT DIRECTOR TELLS US PASSENGERS WERE A COUPLE FROM BATON ROUGE. AS EXPERIENCED AND WELL RESPECTED. >> WHEN THE PLANE HIT THE WATER, REPORTER: THEY DID TELL ME THAT THE WOMAN WHO SURVIVE IS DOING WELL THIS MORNING. 
 
 The crash site was about 1,000 yards west of the airport's north-south runway. 
 
 VIEW: Photos from scene 
 
 Fire Department officials said divers were sent down to the plane Tuesday to attach cables and cranes will lift the wreckage out of the water. 
 
 A woman survived Saturday night's crash, but two men were killed. Crews cut apart the plane to remove the bodies. 
 
 Family members tell WDSU that the passenger in the plane is Reginald Hillard Jr. Hillard's girlfriend, Brianna Davis, was the surviving passenger. She was released from the hospital on Saturday night. 
 
 
 
 The name of the pilot, who is from Thibodaux, has not been released. 
 
 WDSU reporter Jennifer Crockett said when crews opened up the aircraft, the pilot was found buckled into his seat. Hillard had been pushed to the back. 
 
 The airport director, Ben Morris, said Monday that the plane hit a rainstorm around the time of the crash. Morris said the couple chartered the plane for an aerial tour of the city. 
 
 Additional details have not been released by investigators. 
 
 Keep up with local news, weather and current events with the WDSU app here. 
 
 Sign up for our email newsletters to get breaking news right in your inbox. Click here to sign up! ||||| Relatives of a man who was killed in a plane crash last weekend on the lakefront are calling him a hero for what he did moments before his death. 
 
 Crews returned to Lake Pontchartrain Tuesday to retrieve the wreckage of a small aircraft that crashed into the waters north of the New Orleans Lakefront Airport. 
 
 The crash was reported just before 9 p.m. Saturday when New Orleans police said a Cessna aircraft went down in the lake with people still on board. 
 
 One of the passengers, Brianna Davis, was the surviving passenger. She was picked up by a private yacht and taken to a hospital. 
 
 Several authorities began a search for the two men who were also on board. The bodies were removed from the aircraft when it was cut open Tuesday. 
 
 Family members identified the other passenger as Reginald Hillard Jr., who they said is a hero for pushing his girlfriend, Davis, out of the plane before it crashed. 
 
 
 
 
 
 "He's the hero. He was a hero living. You know, he died that way," said Yolanda White, Hillard's cousin. "This was his first plane flight ever. First time he flew on a plane. And it was a surprise from his girlfriend Brianna." 
 
 The couple posed for pictures on the plane before the unfortunate crash. Davis told Hillard's family that he pushed her out of the plane and that's what saved her. 
 
 Hillard was a Baton Rouge rapper, a tattoo artist and a father of three. He was afraid to fly, but didn't want to pass up the experience to see New Orleans from the sky, his family told WDSU reporter Jennifer Crockett. 
 
 "She surprised him and he took the challenge," White said. 
 
 Davis is the sole survivor of the crash. Officials said the pilot, who was not identified, was experienced but didn't call for help. His body was found buckled into his seat. 
 
 
 
 
 
 The airport director, Ben Morris, said that the plane hit a rainstorm around the time of the crash. Police said crashes have happened in the same spot before. 
 
 "They gave us the signal that there were two bodies in there, so we knew it was his and the pilot's," White said. 
 
 Hillard's family said their faith is helping them find peace. 
 
 "He loved his life and he lived it to the fullest. And this is God's will," said Anthony Coleman, Hillard's cousin. "There isn't (anything) we can do about it, but accept it." 
 
 Federal officials are investigating the crash to determine the cause. 
 
 Keep up with local news, weather and current events with the WDSU app here. 
 
 Sign up for our email newsletters to get breaking news right in your inbox. Click here to sign up!
– On Tuesday, a New Orleans family received the confirmation they were dreading: One of two bodies pulled from a plane that went down in Lake Pontchartrain was that of Reginald Hillard Jr., 25. "They said that he was in the plane. I still didn't believe it," his father tells WWLTV. The family is telling a second story, though: one of heroism. They say Hillard saved the life of his girlfriend—the only one of the three aboard to survive the Saturday night flight—by pushing her from the plane. The details are a bit fluid: A family member tells WWLTV Hillard unbuckled Brianna Davis' seatbelt and pushed her out after the Cessna entered the water; relatives tell WDSU he pushed her from the plane before it crashed. Either way, Davis did enter the lake and was retrieved by a passing yacht and taken to the hospital. The flight, an aerial evening tour of the city, was a birthday surprise Davis arranged for Hillard. WDSU reports the father of three was scared to fly and had never been on a plane, but "he took the challenge," says his cousin. "He's the hero." WDSU reports the plane went down about half a mile from the New Orleans Lakefront Airport, whose director, Ben Morris, says, "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 says the plane hit a rainstorm; the pilot, whose body was found still in his seat, did not request any help. (A plane's parachute helped save the life of a former Walmart CEO in 2015.)