French police launched a major search and rescue operation Sunday after a solo flyer`s aircraft vanished in the English Channel.

According to maritime police spokesman Yann Bizien, air traffic controllers from the Channel island of Jersey lost contact with the Cirrus SR22, an eight-metre-long (10 yards) monoplane, at around 1800 GMT, 22 kilometres (14 miles) out from the French port of Cherbourg.

`We are unable at this time to offer any information as to the causes or the circumstances of this accident, neither wreckage nor the pilot have been found,` Bizien added.

The plane had taken off from London and was destined for Jersey.

Air and sea branches of the emergency services were mobilised, with an aircraft and a helicopter from the French navy being quickly deployed and three rescue boats also despatched to the scene.

A fourth passenger ship was also on its way to help after responding to a request by maritime authorities.

Bizien said that weather conditions on the channel were `not extreme` with the sea little more than choppy, which would itself aid the rescue operation.

A surface temperature of 13.5 degrees Celsius (56 degrees Fahrenheit) `would theoretically enable a person even of weak resistance to survive three hours in the water -- up to nine hours for a strong person,` he added.

In January, a Beechcraft plane with three people aboard crashed into the sea off Cherbourg, with one of the victims pulled out of the water alive, Bizien added.