Update: Sunday – 3.11pm
Police have confirmed the man’s body has now been removed from the wreckage and taken away from the scene.
The man will not officially be named by police until all next of kin have been informed.
Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed a post mortem examination is due to take place on Tuesday.
A police spokesperson said: “Police crime scene investigators continue working together with fire investigators and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). We are now arranging for the aircraft to be removed from the site and police will file for the coroner.”
Latest: Saturday
A man has died after the light aircraft he was flying crashed into cliffs and caught fire.
The incident occurred shortly after 4pm on Saturday close to RAF Portreath.
Police said the pilot, believed to be from St Austell, took off from nearby Perranporth Flying Club but crashed minutes later.
The burning wreckage of the aircraft was left precariously on the cliff edge, surrounded by pockets of fire.
A police spokesman said: "At 4.05pm an aircraft left Perranporth Flying Club. Very shortly afterwards it collided with cliffs. It was on fire, and the plane landed on top of the cliff face.
"It has now been extinguished but we believe one person died in the plane. We think he is a man from the St Austell area.
"Nobody else is thought to have been in the aircraft and there were no casualties on the ground."
A major rescue operation was launched involving a helicopter from RNAS Culdrose, Devon and Cornwall Police, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service and Falmouth Coastguards.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has been informed.
A spokesman for Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service said: "The Fire Service received a call from a member of the public in regards to a light aircraft which had been seen in collision with cliffs near Sheep Rock outside of Portreath.
"The Fire Service mobilised four major appliances, four special appliances, two landrovers and two Wholetime Officers to this incident from Redruth, Camborne, Truro, Falmouth, Perranporth and St Just.
"On the crews arrival they discovered the wreckage of a light aircraft and several fires around the crash site."
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