He was 61 and lived with his wife Sarah and two daughters in Calabasas

Horner won two Oscars for his work on Titanic, and frequently collaborated with the film's director, James Cameron

Horner's assistant, Sylvia Patrycja, confirmed his death in Facebook post saying 'he died doing what he loved'

Oscar winner James Horner has been killed after crashing his single-engine plane in Southern California on Monday morning.

Ventura County fire spokesman Mike Lindbery said the crash happened around 9.30am in the Los Padres National Forest, with the Federal Aviation Administration adding that the plane was an S-312 Tucano MK1 turbo-prop with two seats and that the debris was spread across an acre of land.

Crews extinguished a fire that erupted in vegetation after the plane became engulfed in flames upon impact, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Horner, a husband and father of two, was later confirmed dead by one of his employees.

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Tragedy: A plane registered to Titanic composer James Horner (above at the 2012 Golden Globes for Avatar with left to right Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Jon Landau, Horner, James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver) crashed in California on Monday morning

Debris from the crash - a fire erupted in vegetation after the plane became engulfed in flames upon impact

Debris was spread across an acre of land after the S-312 Tucano MK1 turbo-prop with two seats crashed

A firefighter walks near the charred debris of Horner's aircraft following the crash on Monday morning

Big night: Horner, 61, won two Oscars (left) for his work on Titanic, and frequently collaborated with the film's director, James Cameron, writing the Celine Dion classic My Heart Will Go On (right performing at the Oscars)

Horner's assistant, Sylvia Patrycja, confirmed that it was the beloved composer who died in the tragic accident.

'We have lost an amazing person with a huge heart, and unbelievable talent,' Patrycja wrote on Facebook.

'He died doing what he loved. Thank you for all your support and love and see you down the road.'

Jay Cooper, an attorney for Horner, said the plane was one of several owned by the 61-year-old composer.

Horner’s representatives have not commented on the issue.

Horner, 61, took home two Oscars for the 1997 film Titanic, for both his work on the score and writing the hugely popular theme song to the film My Heart Will Go On, which was sung by Celine Dion.

He also won two Grammys and two Golden Globes for his work on that movie.

Horner frequently collaborated with Titanic director James Cameron, also working with him on Avatar and Aliens.

He was currently at work on the score to the two sequels that have been planned to Avatar.

His next film to be released will be Southpaw, the boxing drama starring Jake Gyllenhall and Rachel McAdams.

He also has The 33, a film based on the 2010 mining disaster in Chile, that will be in theaters in November.

Scattered debris of Horner's aircraft following a plane crash near the town of Ventucopa, California

The single-engine plane crashed around 9.30am on Monday in the Los Padres National Forest

More debris from the crash. Horner loved to fly and had recently worked to score a documentary about the subject, Aviation: The Invisible Highway

Horner's assistant Sylvia Patrycja confirmed the composer's death in a post on her Facebook page

A number of stars took to Twitter, pictured above, to express their sadness over the death of the composer

Other Horner masterpieces include the scores to Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Willow and The Missing, all films by Ron Howard.

JAMES HORNER'S FAMOUS SCORES Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) 48 Hrs. (1982) Cocoon (1985) Aliens (1986) Captain EO (1986) An American Tale (1986) Willow (1988) The Land Before Time (1988) Field of Dreams (1989) Glory (1989) The Rocketeer (1991) Sneakers (1992) Searching for Bobby Fisher (1993) Legends of the Fall (1994) Braveheart (1995) Casper (1995) Apollo 13 (1995) Jumanji (1995) Titanic (1997) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) The Perfect Storm (2000) A Beautiful Mind (2001) House of Sand and Fog (2003) Avatar (2009) The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Advertisement

He also worked on Braveheart, Field of Dreams, Glory, An American Tale, Legends of the Fall and Troy.

He was nominated for 10 Oscars over the course of his career and won six Grammys out of 13 nominations.

Nothing however could every eclipse the success of Titanic - the soundtrack sold over 27million copies worldwide.

Before he worked on film scores, Horner, who received a bachelor's degree in music at University of Southern California and then his doctorate at University of California, Los Angeles, was a concert hall composer.

He returned to those concert hall roots in 2014, composing Pas de Deux, a Double Concerto for Violin and Cello that was performed by Mari and Hakon Samuelsen along with the backing of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

He loved to fly and had recently worked to score a documentary about the subject, Aviation: The Invisible Highway.

That film was narrated by fellow flying enthusiast Harrison Ford, who was also in a crash with his small engine plane in early March.

Ford survived the crash, suffering a broken pelvis and broken ankle among a few other minor injuries.

Horner's father Harry was a set designer and occasional art-director and his brother Christopher is a writer and documentary film maker.

Both Horner and his father won two Oscars over the course of their career, with the father taking home the award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration in 1949 for The Heiress and 1961 for The Hustler.

He was also nominated for his work on the Jane Fonda classic They Shoot Horses Don't They?.

Partners: Horner is also known by many for his work on the film Braveheart (above working on the score with star and director Mel Gibson)

Celeb fans: Horner and actress Jennifer Connelly at a premiere party for The House of Sand and Fog in 2003

Back in the day: Horner and Kevin Costner celebrating the 15th anniversary of the release of Field of Dreams in 2004

Horner and his wife, Sarah, have two daughters and live in Calabasas.

The Los Angeles Times called Horner's home for comment and a family member asked for privacy at this time.

Rob Lowe was among the many who paid tribute to Horner after learning of the horrible news, writing on Twitter; 'There is nothing that shaped my movie-going experience more than the musical genius of James Horner. He will live on through the ages.'

Kirstie Alley wrote; 'I"m so sad to hear about James Horner... He scored the first movie I did..Star Trek 2...great composer..great person...huge loss.'