Simon Moores, a father-of-two, was killed when his plane crashed in Spain
The pilot killed in a plane crash in Spain has been named as Simon Moores, the brother-in-law of celebrity chef Paul Hollywood.
Mr Moores, 62, died when his aircraft came down near Errezil in the north of the country on Wednesday, leaving his family devastated.
Pilot and father-of-two Simon is the brother of Alexandra Hollywood, 54, who recently split from Paul.
Mr Moores’ devastated family confirmed his death from their home on Thursday.
The Piper plane took off from Cascais, southern Portugal, and was heading towards Hondarribia airfield in northern Spain when it crashed in misty conditions on the 3,500ft Hernio mountain early on Wednesday afternoon.
Rescuers recovered one body last night before calling off the search in failing light. This morning a second body was found when the search resumed. Sources suggest the two people on board were British.
An audio recording of the crash emerged of Mr Moores changing the plane’s route before the aircraft crashed into a Spanish mountain, killing him and a second Briton.
Early indications suggest the aircraft might have had a fault in its altitude equipment meaning the pilot might not have realised how low the plane was.
It comes as a recording emerged of what is thought to have been the pilot’s last communication before the crash, in which a change of route was discussed with air traffic control.
Before his death Simon was scathing over Mr Hollywood’s split with his sister.
Alexandra was married to the Bake Off star for 19 years, he is now with a 23-year-old barmaid Summer Monteys-Fullam. Mr Moores said the relationship would ‘end in tears’.
Paul Hollywood’s ex Alex is the sister of Simon Moores. She and Mr Hollywood (pictured together) split in November 2017
The last image posted on Simon Moores’ Twitter account was on January 9 – the day he died
Father-of-two Simon Moores frequently updated friends and family on social media as he flew around the world as a pilot
A British pilot and passenger have been killed after their small aircraft crashed on a Spanish mountain in misty conditions. Rescuers are pictured at the scene
Pictures from the scene show foggy skies and the charred remains of the British-registered aircraft on the ground, high up in the Basque Region mountain range
The Piper plane took off from the Portuguese town of Cascais and was heading towards Hondarribia airfield when it crashed on Mount Hernio at about 2pm on Wednesday. Pictured: Rescuers working at the scene
The alarm was raised when an explosion was heard in the area shortly before 2pm on Wednesday. The plane was flying from southern Portugal to northern Spain when it crashed
Pictures from the scene show foggy skies and the charred remains of the British-registered aircraft 160ft from the summit, high up in the Basque Region mountain range.
Contact is said to have been lost with the plane shortly after 1pm when it was in transit between Bilbao and Hondarribia. A local then raised the alarm after hearing an explosion.
One witness told the Spanish press: ‘I heard the noise of the plane, followed by a crash and then everything was silent.’
Mr Moores, a former ‘Technology Ambassador’ for the British Government and Vice President of the Westminster-based Conservative Science and Technology Forum was a keen flyer.
He regularly updated followers on social media with images both of and from planes.
On the day he died, January 9, he posted stunning images from over Spanish mountains.
Although he would later encounter dangerous fog and misty mountains the day appeared clear.
At 7.24am he wrote about a route alteration.
He said: ‘Dawn’s early light – apparently Biarritz make it very difficult to refuel so go to San Sebastian instead.’
Another tweet, his final message, followed at 10.02am with the cockpit pictures, captioned: ‘Mountains of Mid Spain.’
The active father-of-two and husband was also a former councillor in Thanet, Kent.
A spokesman for the regional Basque Country police force, known as the Ertzaintza, said both victims ‘may be British’ but added: ‘Identification will involve the experts being 100 per cent certain and that is not the case at present.
‘One of the bodies was recovered yesterday afternoon and the other today and they were subsequently transported away from the mountain and taken to the provincial capital San Sebastian for autopsies in the city’s Institute of Forensic Medicine.
‘Specialists in air accidents are still present at the scene of the crash.
‘Authorities here are also in contact with British diplomatic officials since Britain is potentially the country of origin of both the people who died in the accident.’
He added: ‘The plane was heading towards San Sebastian airport which is in a coastal resort called Hondarribia which is about 15 miles from the provincial capital and near the border with France.
Rescuers found the wreckage (pictured) on the mountainside amid misty conditions in Spain
Emergency crews were forced to abandon their search for the second person on board just after 6pm last night because of a lack of light. The second body was found today
‘There were two people aboard the plane who are the two people who were found dead on Mount Hernio.
‘It was foggy in the area when the plane crashed so there were visibility problems but the air accident experts will be the ones who will determine what the cause or causes were.’
Rescue teams, including firefighters, descended on the scene and a helicopter was called in – but the efforts of the air team were severely hampered by the foggy weather conditions.
Ground teams eventually reached the wreckage at 3.45pm and found a body within the wreckage.
They were forced to abandon their search for the second person on board just after 6pm because of a lack of light. They resumed this morning and found a body at 10.22am.
Rescue teams, including firefighters, descended on the scene and a helicopter was called in – but the efforts of the air team were severely hampered by the foggy weather conditions
Hernio mountain is a well known summit in the heart of the province of Gipuzkoa and, at more than 3,500 ft, is the highest peak in the range
Hernio is a well known summit in the heart of the province of Gipuzkoa and, at more than 3,500 ft, is the highest peak in the range.
The crash site has been cordoned off by investigators and rescue teams were due to continue their search this morning.
Although the nationality of the two people on board remains unknown, sources have suggested the two on board the four-seater plane were ‘foreign nationals, possibly English’.
A Foreign Office spokesman told MailOnline it was ‘seeking further information from the Spanish authorities’ following the plane crash.