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.

FMI: www.kodiak.org/airport.html