UPDATED: 8:01 a.m. ET
LOS ANGELES -- James Horner, the Academy Award-winning movie score composer behind dozens of major films including Titanic, Braveheart and Avatar, was unaccounted for Monday after the crash of a small plane registered in his name.
Fire officials said they found the burning wreckage about 2 miles west of Highway 33 sometime after 9:30 a.m. Within the one-acre burn zone they discovered the tail section of the two seater turboprop plane, which was registered in Horner's name.
Horner's agency did not immediately return messages left Monday evening, and his lawyer told Mashable only that no one had heard from Horner since the crash was spotted about 60 miles north of Santa Barbara.
Ron Howard, who collaborated with Horner on several films, tweeted this reaction late Monday night. It was not immediately clear whether Howard had any inside information on whether Horner was killed in the crash, and renewed outreach to fire officials in Santa Barbara were not immediately returned.
Brilliant Composer James Horner, friend & collaborator on 7 movies has tragically died in a plane crash. My heart aches for his loved ones.— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) June 23, 2015
It was not disclosed how many victims of the crash were found, but fire officials did say there were no survivors and TMZ reported that the pilot was alone. The FAA said the plane was a single-engine S-312 Tucano MK-1, an advanced military trainer.
Like Harrison Ford, the 61-year-old Horner is known as an avid aviator. He scored the 2015 documentary Living in the Age of Airplanes, and like Ford, his choice of military training aircraft is a testament to his seriousness about flying.
Horner has dozens of iconic film scores to his name, including Apollo 13, Jumanji, A Beautiful Mind and was working on the Avatar sequels. He's been nominated for nine Oscars, winning two in 1998 for "My Heart Will Go On" and the Titanic score.
Santa Barbara County Fire investigators did not immediately return Mashable's requests for updated information Monday evening.