A man has died after the light plane he was piloting crashed on Monday afternoon.

Police were called to Meadowview Road near Tottenham — about 140km north-west of Parkes in the NSW central west — at about 3.40pm when the recreational aircraft was found crashed in a paddock.

The 48-year-old pilot, a local, died in the crash.

Police had been searching the area for the driver of a car which had been reported stolen from a worksite near Narromine, about an hour’s drive away, about 2pm when the crash occurred.

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Inquiries are continuing into his whereabouts, while a report on the plane crash will be prepared for the coroner and a Recreational Aircraft Australia investigation is also under way.