A PILOT with 25 years experience died instantly when his aircraft crashed in France.

Stephen Sebastian, 52, of Elm Grove, Southend, took off from Barling in his microlight plane and intended to fly to stay with friends in Barcelona, Spain.

But he never arrived and his friends, who he’d known since university, reported him missing to Spanish police.

No witnesses have ever been found to the crash which happened over farmland near Toulouse in south west France on September 23, 2011.

Yesterday, an inquest, heard that chartered accountant Mr Sebastian’s plane was found on its roof in a field by the landowner who called police.

Officers discovered his body lying about 300 metres from the crash site which fell within a restricted flying area.

He died of multiple injuries.

His wife Shila (corr) Sebastian told the hearing: “He was very courageous and would take risks. He was always so thorough before he got in the plane to check every single thing.”

Coroner Yvonne Blake told the family they may never know exactly what happened.

She said: “There was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in his blood. There was no defect with the plane which was in good working order.

“Mr Sebastian was an experienced pilot. There was no evidence of a collision or poor weather.

“There seems to be some but not firm conclusion that the fuel pipe might not have been closed and he was losing fuel and didn’t have enough to make his destination.

“I suspect we will never know what the cause of the crash was. Nobody saw it and there is no real definitive answer to why the plane crash landed.”

Ms Blake recorded a narrative verdict that Mr Sebastian died following a air traffic crash while in France.