MUMBAI: Oscar winning music composer James Horner died at the age of 61 in a plane crash near Santa Barbara.

Horner, who won two Oscars for the music of 'Titanic' and scored for other blockbusters like 'Avatar', 'Braveheart', and 'A Beautiful Mind', died on Monday, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

His death was confirmed by Sylvia Patrycja, who is identified on Horner's film music page as his assistant.

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," Patrycja wrote on social networking website Facebook on Monday.

Horner was piloting the small aircraft when it crashed into a remote area about 60 miles north of Santa Barbara, officials said.

An earlier report noted that the plane, which was registered to the composer, had gone down, but the pilot had not been identified.

For his work on the 1997 Best Picture winner 'Titanic', directed by James Cameron, Horner captured the Oscar for Original Dramatic Score, and he nabbed another Academy Award for Original Song (shared with lyricist Will Jennings) for 'My Heart Will Go On', performed by Celine Dion. His score for 'Titanic' sold a whopping 27 million copies worldwide.

His fruitful partnership with Cameron also netted him Oscar nominations for original score for the blockbusters in the 1986 film 'Aliens' and 2009 film 'Avatar'.

The duo reportedly was also at work on 'Avatar' sequels.

Horner earned 10 Oscar nominations in all, also being recognised for his work on two other Best Picture winners: 'Braveheart' and 'A Beautiful Mind'.

He also received nominations for 'An American Tail', 'Field of Dreams', 'Apollo 13' and 'House of Sand and Fog'.

Horner has three films coming out soon – 'Southpaw', the boxing drama that stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams and is due in theaters in July; Jean-Jacques Annaud's 'Wolf Totem', out in September; and 'The 33', a drama based on the 2010 mining disaster in Chile that is set for November.

His lengthy film résumé includes 'The Lady in Red' (1979), 'Wolfen' (1981), 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan' (1982) and 'Star Trek III: The Search for Spock' (1983), 'Red Heat' (1988), 'Glory' (1989), 'The Rocketeer' (1991), 'Patriot Games' (1992), 'Searching for Bobby Fischer' (1993), 'Jumanji' (1995), 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' (2000), 'Troy' (2004) and 'The Amazing Spider-Man' (2012).