In 2010, Another Plane Piloted By A 'Jason Lobo' Crashed On Takeoff In Kodiak, Injuring Two Passengers

THE COPPER RIVER COUNTRY JOURNAL 

16 Years Ago, Jason Lobo Crashed A Small Plane At The End Of A Runway In Kodiak 

A campground on Kodiak Island. (State website) 

There Were Two Passengers On Board With Him. All Survived.  

The recurring danger of everyday small airplane travel in Alaska just doesn't go away. 

This July, 2026, an airplane piloted by Jason Lobo of McCarthy crashed. Lobo and his two passengers died on a remote sandbar at Dan Creek in the Wrangells of the Copper Valley. 

In March, 2010, sixteen years ago, a person named Jason Lobo and two other passengers had an eerily similar experience at the end of the Kodiak airport runway.  Fortunately, they all survived. 

According to a Daily News story at the time  (entitled "Broken arm worst injury as trees cushion crashing plane," by reporter James Halpin) the Kodiak plane was owned by Servant Air. It took off just before 1 pm on a Monday, and crashed upon takeoff. The plane hit the tops of some trees at the end of the runway, flipping nose down into the ground in a 'vertical position.' 

The pilot, identified in the story as Jason Lobo, got out of the plane on his own, but the two passengers, who were still conscious, were extracted in a lengthy effort by state fire and rescue crews, made difficult due to the plane's instability, a DOT spokesman told the Anchorage Daily News newspaper – which at that time was known as the Alaska Dispatch.  The passengers were evacuated to a Providence facility on Kodiak Island, the story said, and, as the headline revealed, were apparently not seriously hurt. 

The Kodiak Coast Guard fire chief told the local radio station, KMXT, that landing in the trees tempered the situation considerably, softening the blow. Chief Mike McDonnell told the radio:  "...had he not hit the trees, and landed out on the highway 50 feet away, it would have been a much grimmer situation." 

They had to send in a crane to take away the wreckage. 

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FURTHER BACKGROUND: According to the website radaris, there is a Jason E. Lobo listed as a Glennallen resident. (McCarthy uses the Glennallen post office for its mail.) The site lists Jason E. Lobo as being 54 years old, and born in 1972. It says he has lived in Glennallen, California, Anchorage, Kodiak, and four different cities in Washington state. 

Servant Air of Kodiak was established as Paklook Air in 1992 in Fairbanks, according to Wikipedia. It offered passenger services to many remote places, including Old Harbor. It also took passengers to Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Kenai, Homer and other places "on demand." 

Two years before the Kodiak runway incident, on January 5th, 2008, a Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftain plane, operated by Servant Air, crashed into Kodiak Harbor soon after takeoff, apparently due to ramifications of an unexpected sudden opening of the nose baggage door, shortly after takeoff. There were 6 fatalities to that crash, including the pilot, Robin Starrett. There were 4 survivors. The people who were on the plane were described as Russian Orthodox 'Old Believers' who were headed to Homer, an Old Believer enclave, to celebrate the Russian Orthodox Christmas, which is held after the typical American Christmas season.  Servant Air ceased service in 2021, 5 years ago. 

In July, 2025, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 was grounded after it was damaged hitting three deer while landing at Kodiak Airport. The deer had jumped across the runway. No passengers were hurt.