The British-registered plane had taken off with five other light aircraft as part of a joint outing, the prefecture said.
Its last known position was half-way over the Channel some 25 miles (45 kilometres) from Dungeness in the southeast of England, according to the UK coastguard.
A substantial search operation by both British and French authorities on Saturday proved fruitless.
Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that the single-engine plane was owned by a staff instructor at a flying school based in Wellesbourne.
It named him as Guy Wakeley. The flying school’s website lists his former roles as chief executive for Morrison, a social housing maintenance group, and financial services group Equiniti.
The website said it was holding a “Club Fly-Out” to Le Touquet on Saturday. An official at the school declined to comment on who was aboard the plane to The Sunday Telegraph.
[“source=ndtv”]
