Mon, Jan 07, 2008
Six Perish, Four Survive water Impact
A Piper Navajo PA-31 (file photo, below right)went down shortly
after takeoff from Alaska's Kodiak Airport, impacting in a harbor
just off the end of the runway. Reports indicate the aircraft may
have been attempting to turn back to the airport when it went
down.
Pilot Robin Starrett (50) is reported to have been killed in the
crash, while five of his passengers also perished. Four people were
recovered, alive, from the water and are expected to survive. A
nearby floatplane came to the rescue shortly after the crash and
assisted survivors out of the water and into this aircraft. He
reported that two of the survivors were standing "waist deep" in
the water, while standing on top of the fuselage, and two others
were found in the water close by.
The Navajo was a part
135 aircraft operated by Servant Air. It went down at 1348 local
time, Saturday, according to NTSB investigator Clint Johnson.
Among those reported to have lost their lives are Stefan F.
Basargin (36), Pavel F. Basargin (30), Zahary F. Martushev (25),
Iosif F. Martushev (15), and Andrian Reutov (22). Most of the those
who perished are reported to be residents of Homer Alaska, though
the pilot, was a Kodiak resident and a former Coast Guard helo
pilot.
The floatplane pilot Dean Andrew, reported to local media that,
"While I was warming up and back taxiing, I heard Servant Air's
Navajo taking off, and shortly after he took off, he said, 'I need
to return to the airport.' I know the pilot, and I could tell by
the tone of this voice that it was probably something serious."
The Coast Guard reported reasonably good weather at the time of
the accident... clear skies and 20-knot winds.
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