Victoria Police have confirmed a 42-year-old pilot has died after his light aircraft was found in dense bushland in Victoria's high country.
The plane and pilot were located by emergency services just after 10am today, near Lucyvale about 30 kilometres east of Tallangatta.
The Jabiru plane had one person on board, who last made contact at 12:41pm on Sunday.
Senior Sergeant Shane Martin said the plane took off from Mount Beauty Airport and was believed to be travelling to Wollongong.
He said search and rescue teams were working to reach the crash site.
"It's very dense here, it's a mountainous terrain," Senior Sergeant Martin said.
"At this stage, we've had search and rescue with the police airwing to get some members to the location."
Senior Sergeant Martin said their first priority was to recover the body of the pilot, but that was not expected to happen until tomorrow.
Before the plane was found, an aerial search coordinated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority had to be called off overnight due to poor weather and low visibility.
AMSA sent two helicopters and a fixed-wing rescue aircraft from Melbourne to search the area yesterday, and had additional rescue helicopters on stand-by to continue the search once conditions improved.
While AMSA conducted the aerial search, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre managed at least six teams of police and volunteer units searching on land.
Victoria Police say they have been in contact with the pilot's family and will now work with Recreational Aviation Australia to determine the circumstances surrounding the crash.
