Human remains found inside small mystery plane off UK coast

Human remains have been discovered inside the wreckage of a small plane which went missing off the coast of Scotland over a year ago.

The light aircraft was discovered by a fishing boat in the waters near Lerwick, Shetland in the North Sea on Friday, and was brought to shore on Sunday.

Last night, the Air Accident Investigation Branch confirmed that the wreckage was of a German-registered Cessna 172 which vanished over the North Sea between Shetland and Norway in September last year.

The four-seater craft disappeared after departing from Hamburg in September 2023, with its 62-year-old pilot the only passenger onboard.

Flying conditions were reported to be good on the day of his departure, and the unnamed pilot was reported to be in good health and an experienced flyer who originally planned to take his wife with him.

But he did not file a flight plan, stick to the planned route, or stay in touch with air traffic control, and after remaining in the air for six hours and 19 minutes suddenly began to descend rapidly at a pace of 1,000ft per minute.

The plane was last recorded by Norwegian air traffic control at 4.45pm on September 30, who reported its rapid descent to authorities.

A search was launched after the Cessna was reported missing by its owner on October 1, when the pilot did not return at the agreed time.

A fixed-wing HM Coastguard plane was sent to search an area between Shetland and Norway the next day, but was stood down when no trace could be found.

The Aviation Safety Network claimed the pilot had initially chartered the flight to visit relatives in Bayreuth, which was 143 nautical miles south-southeast from where he first took off.

But instead the flight headed north-northwest, and the pilot ceased radio contact with air traffic once he was in the air.

A report by the Network stated: ‘Around 4.38pm, the aircraft began descending at an average rate of 1,000 feet per minute and initially deviated to the right from the northern course, followed by numerous small course changes.

‘The last radar contact was recorded by Norwegian air traffic control at 4.45pm, approximately 70 NM southeast of the Shetland Islands (UK) and just over 500 NM from the departure airfield, at 1,700 feet AMSL (about 6 hours and 19 minutes after takeoff and 8 minutes after the descent began).

‘Since then, the aircraft and its pilot have been considered missing.’

It added: ‘At no time was there radio contact with air traffic control or flight information services in any of the countries whose airspace was flown through. Neither Denmark nor Norway recorded a landing of the aircraft. No flight plan was filed.

‘The owner reported the aircraft missing the following day (October 1, 2023) after it did not return at the agreed time.

‘The pilot’s wife had told the owner that she had initially been scheduled as a passenger on the accident flight. In the morning, the pilot had spontaneously informed her that she would not be travelling on the flight.’

Germany’s Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation also looked into the incident, and concluded that ‘the forces that occurred during contact with the water surface, the low water temperature, the lack of emergency equipment’ and the fact that the plane was not reported missing until the following day ‘made this air accident on the North Sea difficult or even impossible to survive’.

An Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) spokesperson said: ‘We were informed that the remains of a German registered Cessna 172, which was lost in the North Sea in September 2023, had been recovered by a fishing vessel on December 6 and brought to shore in Shetland.

‘The loss of the aircraft was initially investigated by the Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung (BFU) of Germany. The AAIB is supporting Police Scotland and working with the BFU to assist their safety investigation.’

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: ‘Police received a report of a small aircraft having been recovered from the water in the North Sea, north-east of Lerwick, around 2.20pm on Friday 6 December.

‘The aircraft was brought to shore on Sunday 8 December, and human remains were found within. Enquiries are ongoing.’

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