Wreckage of the light plane belonging to missing Queensland pilot Rob Pavan has been found in southern Queensland.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said Mr Pavan could not have survived the high speed crash, but by late Monday afternoon they were yet to locate his body.

AMSA media coordinator Andrea Hayward-Maher said a farmer found Mr Pavan’s crashed Jabiru near the town of Woolooga, about 39 kilometres north-west of Gympie.

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When a rescue chopper had trouble accessing the mountainous crash site, the farmer drove to the scene with police in four-wheel drives.

Authorities eventually confirmed the wreckage, strewn across the mountain over several hundred metres, was that of Mr Pavan’s plane.

Ms Hayward-Maher said Mr Pavan did not issue a mayday call before the crash and his personal locator beacon was not activated, which made the search difficult.

“He hasn’t made it too far, unfortunately, before this crash occurred,” she said.

“He hasn’t survived the high-impact crash. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the pilot.

“This has been a really tough few days for them.”

Wreckage of Mr Pavan’s Jabiru in bushy terrain on a property north-west of Woolooga. Photo: ABC

It is not known what caused the crash but there had been reports of bad weather in the area.

AMSA said five fixed-wing aircraft and 12 helicopters took part in today’s search for Mr Pavan’s plane, which disappeared on Saturday.

The solo pilot, an experienced aviator, had just completed a trip around Australia.

He took off from Gympie on Saturday morning en route to a small airstrip about 90 kilometres west of Gladstone, in central Queensland.

AMSA was alerted when Mr Pavan failed to arrive and a search began about 4:15pm on Saturday.