Emergency services were notified of a possible plane crash near Dargals Trail in the Snowy Valley about 4.30pm on Tuesday.
A multi-agency search, which was temporarily suspended because of difficult conditions, resumed on Wednesday morning, bringing in officers from NSW and Victoria emergency services, including NSW Police, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Snowy Hydro.
It also included an overhead search by an Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) rescue jet, and two helicopters scrambled from Victoria and Sydney.
Speaking before the discovery of the crash site, Stephens’ family described the accountant, who is months away from retiring, as an experienced pilot who has been flying since the 1960s.
“David loved to fly. He earned his pilot’s licence even before his driver’s licence in the 1960s,” the family said in a statement to Nine News.
“He must have seen a way over the mountains and decided not to turn back.”
Tony Rettke, Frog’s Hollow Flyers aero club president, of which Stephens was a member, said his plane, a 1966 Beechcraft Debonair, was being serviced before his departure from Wangaratta.
“We’re all aware of the different possibilities in flying light aircraft, and David is very capable and very experienced to be flying the length that he has,” he told Nine News.
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