The wreckage of a small plane recovered from the North Sea with human stays inside was a aircraft that disappeared greater than a yr in the past, investigators have confirmed.
A German-registered Cessna 172 was found northeast of Lerwick on Friday afternoon.
It was dropped at shore in Shetland by a fishing boat on Sunday, and Police Scotland stated human stays have been discovered inside.
The Air Accidents Investigation Department (AAIB) has now confirmed it was an plane that vanished crossing the North Sea on 30 September 2023.
A report revealed earlier this yr by German investigators Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung (BFU) stated the 62-year-old male pilot took off within the morning from the Uetersen-Heist airfield in Germany with the intention to go to kinfolk in Bayreuth and return the chartered aircraft the next day.
The BFU stated as an alternative of heading south, the plane travelled in a north-westerly route.
Contact was misplaced over six hours later about 70 nautical miles southeast of the Shetland Islands.
The proprietor of the one engine four-seater plane reported it lacking the next day when it didn’t return on the agreed time.
The BFU report stated the pilot had explicitly requested a aircraft with autopilot and had reportedly advised his spouse that morning she couldn’t accompany him as deliberate.
The BFU stated it was not conscious of the detailed circumstances and motives surrounding that call.
The AAIB stated it was supporting Police Scotland and the German authorities.
An AAIB spokesperson stated: “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 6 December and brought to shore in Shetland on Sunday.
“The lack of the plane was initially investigated by the BFU of Germany.
“The AAIB is supporting Police Scotland and working with the BFU to assist their safety investigation.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson added that “enquiries are ongoing”.
