Single-engine plane came down 15 miles off Dungeness in Kent

By Peter Allen and Damien Gayle


PUBLISHED: 13:13 EST, 21 July 2013 | UPDATED: 14:02 EST, 21 July 2013


British and French rescue teams were scouring the Channel today for signs of the pilot of a light aircraft which came down after taking off from London.


The American-registered plane carrying one person, its British pilot, crashed about 15 miles off Dungeness in Kent at around 2.30pm.


A cross-Channel search and rescue operation has been launched involving both English and French teams, including two helicopters and four boats.



The single-engine light aircraft had been heading from Blackbushe Airport, on the Hampshire and Surrey border, to Le Touquet, in northern France's Pas-de-Calais department.


The alarm was raised after the aircraft was overdue, a spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency MCA said.


The incident happened four miles inside UK waters and the search being co-ordinated by the British with help from the French authorities.


The French search and rescue helicopter found wreckage around 15 miles off Dungeness, the MCA said.


The spokesman said: 'The search and rescue helicopter from RAF Wattisham has now joined in with the search, along with the Dungeness RNLI lifeboat, and three French vessels.'


A spokesman for France's 'Manche Maritime' and North Sea prefecture said: 'Debris from the plane has been found in the sea some 20 nautical miles from Boulogne-sur-Mer.


'The plane was heading for Le Touquet airport in northern France.'



An Air Accidents Investigation Branch spokesman said: 'The AAIB have deployed a team to collect evidence and begin an initial investigation.


'The position of the aircraft will determine if the full investigation will be led by the AAIB or the French authorities.'


An MCA spokesman said: 'We had reports that an aircraft was overdue. It was heading from London to Le Touquet.


'It was an American-registered aircraft with one person on board. The search has been involving a French helicopter and it has been searching for two hours.


'That will have to return shortly and that will be replaced by a search and rescue helicopter from RAF Wattisham in Suffolk.


'The Dungeness lifeboat is en route and we believe the Calais lifeboat is also involved. The search is ongoing at the moment to find the pilot.


'We still have about six hours of daylight left.'




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