By Jack Gramenz and Tom Wark

The body of a man has been located in wreckage near the crash site of a plane in the Snowy Mountains just before 3pm on Friday.

While he is yet to be formally identified, police believe the body is that of the missing pilot.

The aircraft was on a private flight from Wangaratta in Victoria to Moruya on the NSW South Coast on Tuesday, and was reported missing when it did not arrive.

A Beechworth Debonair light plane was last recorded on GPS near Dargals Trail in the Kosciuszko National Park.

Poor weather hampered the search for the plane but the inter-agency operation eventually found the wreckage about 4pm on Thursday, 10km east of Khancoban in the Snowy Mountains.

“You wouldn’t recognise it as an aeroplane,” NSW Police Superintendent Andrew Spliet said of the wreckage on Friday.

“It’s a significant impact, a fair bit of speed into the mountain range which has completely destroyed that aircraft.”

The search and subsequent recovery operation has involved helicopters from both NSW and Victoria along with SES, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Snowy Hydro and alpine specialist staff.

The impact of Tuesday’s poor weather and whether flight warnings were in place will form part of the investigation into the crash, Supt Spliet said.

Australia’s aviation safety watchdog announced they had begun an investigation into the crash and would provide a preliminary report in about two months.

Tracking data, weather information and maintenance records will all form part of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s probe.

“Should a critical safety issue be identified during the investigation, the ATSB will immediately notify relevant parties so safety action can be taken,” the bureau said in a statement.