James Horner, the Hollywood composer who wrote the score for the Oscar-winning film hit Titanic, has died in a California plane crash aged 61, the BBC reports.

A trained pilot, he is reported to have been alone aboard a small private plane which crashed north of Santa Barbara on Monday morning.

The two-time Oscar winner worked on three James Cameron films, as well as A Beautiful Mind, Troy and Apollo 13.

He won one Oscar for the Titanic film score and one for its theme song.

The plane crash left an impact crater and sparked a brush fire that had to be put out by firefighters, local fire authorities said.