A JERSEYMAN is missing after the light aircraft he was flying disappeared from radar screens over the sea north of Cherbourg yesterday evening

Alex de Gruchy, of De Gruchy Funeral Services, was flying back to the Island from Biggin Hill aerodrome near London when the fixed wing single-engine aircraft was reported missing at about 5.15 pm. The States police said today that the aircraft ditched near Cherbourg in French territorial waters. Wreckage of a light aircraft in the area has been found.

Mr de Gruchy, aged 25, is understood to have acquired his pilot’s licence this year. The aircraft, said to be a Cirrus SR 22, was reported to have disappeared by Jersey Air Traffic Control at a position about 14 nautical miles north of the French port.

A French air and sea rescue operation was immediately mounted and resumed this morning in a bid to locate the pilot, who was said to have been flying alone. Jersey Airport spokesman Alan Donald said that the search resumed at 7.45 am today. The French coast guard station CROSS at Jobourg in Normandy received a message from Jersey air traffic controllers at 6.23 pm French time yesterday saying that contact with the aircraft had been lost.

• Picture: A plane similar to that which disappeared