A search team from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority found Thursday the wreckage of a Cessna plane missing since Wednesday and said its lone pilot was dead.

The plane, which left Roma at 2:50 p.m. Wednesday, was spotted at 3:10 p.m. approximately 100 kilometres north of Roma. Queensland police are now at the scene investigating the cause of the crash.

Eleven helicopters and six planes from AMSA searched an area from Roma to Dysart since 8 a.m. Thursday and detected the intermittent signal from an emergency beacon in the Carnarvon Gorge area. The search was conducted after the plane failed to arrive at Dysart.

The pilot of the single-engine plane was identified as Darryl Marsh, 49. His daughter, Anita Dwyer, said his father regularly flew between his home in Roma and at the Norwich Park coal mine, where he worked, according to The Chronicle.

The victim's wife is returning home from Europe upon learning the news.

An AMSA search and rescue plane.