The body of a pilot missing after a light plane crash in the NSW Snowy Mountains has been found.

David Stephens, a 74-year-old experienced pilot from Bega, was flying a private flight from Wangaratta in Victoria to Moruya on the NSW South Coast on Tuesday when the aircraft failed to arrive.

The wreckage of the Beechcraft Debonair light aircraft was located about 4pm on Thursday in snow-covered terrain, roughly 10km east of Khancoban.

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Stephens’ body was found near the crash site about 3pm on Friday.

“While he is yet to be formally identified, police believe the body is that of the missing pilot,” NSW Police said in a statement.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

The wreckage of the plane was almost completely destroyed in the crash.

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

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

“It wouldn’t be survivable,” he told reporters.

Earlier, Stephens’ wife Lynda Leigh said he disappeared “on his flight home ... after having his aircraft inspected” in Victoria.

“It is known that the mountain weather can turn very quickly, and we can only assume he must have seen a way over the mountain to decide not to turn back to Wangaratta,” she told the ABC in a statement.

“David has quite a bit of experience flying that plane, but we can’t know what situation he was facing, and we’ll only have answers once they locate the plane and with that David.”

She said Stephens is a member of the Frog’s Hollow Flyers aero club, a rally sport commentator on the Sapphire Coast region, and an accountant just two months from retirement.

“Which makes the situation more heartbreaking as his family was looking to spend more time with him after decades of work,” Leigh said.