Composer James Horner, who won two Academy Awards for scoring the film 'Titanic, and whose career spans more than 100 films, died yesterday in plane crash in Ventura County, California. He was 61 years old.

Variety magazine reported that Horner, who was an avid pilot, was flying alone on Monday morning when his small, two seat single engine S312 Tucano crashed just north of Santa Barbara. The ensuing wreckage ignited a brushfire which was extinguished by local fire crews. The aircraft was completely destroyed.

Horner's personal assistant Sylvia Patrycja took to her Facebook page to break the sad news. She wrote:

"We have lost an amazing person with a huge heart and unbelievable talent. He died doing what he loved. Thank you for all your support and love and see you down the road."

Horner's prolific career saw him compose the music for some of Hollywood's biggest films. His resume includes the original scores for classics like "Avatar", "Apollo 13", "Braveheart", and "Field of Dreams".

Horner's crowning achievement was bagging two Oscars at the 1997 Academy Awards for his work on James Cameron's mega hit Titanic. Horner took home the Oscar for best original score. Additionally, along with songwriter Will Jennings and performer Celine Dion, Horner also won the Oscar for best original song for his work on the chart topping hit "My Heart Will Go On."

In a 2011 interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Horner's collaborator on both Titanic and Avatar James Cameron had this to say about his musical touch:

"Avatar was a very different challenge - to capture the heart and spirit of an alien culture without alienated the audience. By combining the sweep of a classic orchestral score with indigenous instrumentation and vocals, you came up with a unique sound that created both the epic sweep of the film and also childlike sense of wonder of experiencing that fantastic world for the first time... I look forward to our next collaboration and I can't wait to hear what you come up with next."