Presumably Lost When Single Plane Went Down In The English Channel

The wife of a wealthy banker whose light aircraft apparently went down in the English Channel says that she needed £30,000 for a three-day search to solve the mystery and find his body.

According to a report appearing in the UK newspaper the Basingstoke Gazette, German national Sascha Schornstein, 36, was the only person aboard the single-engine Cirrus plane which crashed about 15 miles off the coast of Dungeness, Kent, on July 21. Schornstein, who worked for RBS in its commodity finance department, had lived in London since 2001 and was a graduate of the London School of Economics. He had filed a flight plan and had taken off from Blackbushe Airport, near Hartley Wintney, en route to Le Touquet in France but he never arrived.

Yulia Schornstein, 28, from Knightsbridge in central London, was fighting back tears as she addressed the media saying, “I have to know what happened. I know Sascha was very responsible. Flying was his passion and he was German and had that attention to detail so I'm sure that in that situation something unexpected must have happened. I'm a little scared of flying but he always took me and I always felt comfortable and we went to France and Germany and he was always well prepared,” she said.

Despite an extensive search by British and French authorities only around ten to 15% of the wreckage has been recovered, including parts of the wings, fuselage and doors. British authorities called off the search last week, although the Hampshire police who are investigating say they are still treating the incident as a missing persons inquiry. Sgt Andy Thomas said: “In the simplest terms because we have not found Sascha, this is a missing person inquiry. Although it would appear he has been involved in an accident, we are keeping all lines of inquiry open.”

Officer Thomas said they are running background checks on Mr Schornstein’s mobile phone, bank accounts and credit cards adding that is was normal procedure in such an investigation.

Mrs Schornstein, who works in the hotel industry and had been married for only 18 months, said the American registered aircraft was not owned by her husband but he paid monthly to fly it.

She said that the plane had a parachute fitted but that has also not been found. She explained that her husband, who comes from Rostock in Germany, enjoyed outdoor pursuits in addition to flying and he was a qualified sailor and diver.

Originally from St Petersburg in Russia, Mrs Schornstein said she knew of nothing that would lead her husband to disappear.

“We are very happy and money was not a problem. There are really no problems. He was very busy at work and he was working one night until 4am. He often stayed late in the office and was working on something that was going to finish in July and we were going on holiday to France in August for my birthday,” she added.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch is also looking into what caused the aircraft to come down in water that was around 50 meters deep. The weather on the day was fine.

Mrs Schornstein is asking for donations to help fund the search. She said that there is limited time to find out what happened which could be of help to other pilots and the flight data chips are onboard the aircraft and they could solve the mystery.

Those interested in giving can do so online.

FMI: http://m.basingstokegazette.co.uk