Light aircraft crashes into English Channel British and French emergency teams have responded to reports that a light aircraft had crashed into the English Channel. The American-registered plane carrying one person on board came down about 15 miles off Dungeness in Kent at around 2.30pm on Sunday. A cross-Channel search and rescue operation has been launched involving both English and French teams, including a French helicopter and the Dungeness RNLI lifeboat. A French search and rescue helicopter found wreckage around 15 miles off Dungeness, the MCA said later. The alarm was raised after the single-engine light aircraft, which was heading from London to Le Touquet, was overdue, a spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said. The incident happened four miles inside UK waters and is being co-ordinated by the British with help from the French authorities. An MCA spokesman said: "We had reports that an aircraft was overdue. It was heading from London to Le Touquet. It was an American-registered aircraft with one person on board. The search has been involving a French helicopter and it has been searching for two hours. The Dungeness lifeboat is en route and we believe the Calais lifeboat is also involved. The search is ongoing at the moment to find the pilot.