Cirrus SR-20 down in North Sea (4-Jan-2016)
 

On Monday 4 January 2016 in the afternoon around 14:00 UTC, a Cirrus SR-20 (G-ZOGT), on a flight from Norwich to the German Island Sylt, disappeared from the radar some miles west of the Dutch Shore. Coast Guard started a SAR with aircraft and ships. Some time later debris of the plane was found. 1 POB missing. Weather at the time of the accident was not too good, visibility was poor, and a SIGMET had been issued to warn for severe icing.
Search for the unfortunate pilot continues on Tuesday.

Some news background (in Dutch, sorry!)

Vliegtuigje in zee gestort | Nederlandse Kustwacht

Sportvliegtuigje in Noordzee gestort | NOS

Last known radar plot: https://t.co/RCNgRmV1xy

updated information
 

Pilot reportedly 76-year old from Germany. Departed from an airfield in Glouchestershire (not Norwich) to destination Münster-Osnabrück (not Sylt)

Source:
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The airfield is named Gloucestershire, formerly Staverton.

Another case of a VFR pilot with limited experience flying into poor weather and then losing control. At one point, he was so low over the water, the controller was warning him about windmills. Then the maneuvering to stay VFR which didn't work. The weather forecast was very bad, yet he decided to fly anyways....

Aviation - Onderzoeksraad

The scary part is that he told his wife on his pre-departure phone call, that he was aware of possible bad weather en-route, but in that case, he would turn back. Which he actually didn't do.
Another WTF part for me is that he wore a life west, but no suitable clothes against cold water.
Makes me think that superficial safety measures are worse than abolutely no safety measures, as they undermine our risk assessments.

What I find odd about this accident report, is that there is no mention of the autopilot. A few years ago I flew a Cirrus SR 22 for a couple of hours, including two landings and takeoffs and an ILS approach into Burbank.

Apart from the landings and takeoffs, the whole flight was done using the autopilot, with the exception of adjusting power during the ILS because there is no autothrottle. The autopilot was much more capable of flying the aircraft than I was and I am surprised that the unfortunate pilot in this accident did not use the auto pilot to get himself out of trouble.

I'm not.

Correct use of the autopilot would require proper training and understanding of the system and regular practice. It would require, on the part of the pilot, the will to learn and understand the system and to retain the knowledge and maintain the currency. It would require him to have the presence of mind and discipline to identify the need to engage the AP when it started to go wrong.

If he'd know how to use the AP properly then he'd probably also have know how to check the weather properly and decide to turn back at the right time or even better not go in the first place.

If he'd known how to use the autopilot he would probably also have known about dressing properly for overwater flight and survival.

It gives me no pleasure or satisfaction to say this but to me the lack of proper use of the AP simply reflects all of the other things that were not done properly either.

OH