Brandon Hobbs, a 1992 Iola High School graduate who embarked on a lengthy aviation career, first in the Air Force and then as a Department of Defense contractor pilot, was killed Thursday when a plane crashed in a rice field in the Southern Philippines, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command reported.
Hobbs was one of four people killed in the crash. The aircraft was conducting a routine mission “providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support at the request of our Philippine allies,” the command said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
It said the cause of the crash was under investigation.
Windy Beaty, a provincial disaster-mitigation officer, told The Associated Press that she received reports that residents saw smoke coming from the plane and heard an explosion before the aircraft plummeted to the ground less than a half mile from a cluster of farmhouses.
Nobody was reported injured on or near the crash site, which was cordoned off by troops, Beaty said.
A water buffalo on the ground was killed as a result of the plane crash, local officials said.
U.S. forces have been deployed in a Philippine military camp in the country’s south for decades to help advise and provide training to Filipino forces battling Muslim militants. The region is the homeland of minority Muslims in the largely Roman Catholic nation.
Also killed in the crash were a U.S. Marine and two other defense contractors.
Hobbs, 51, was born Sept. 16, 1973.
He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he distinguished himself in Air Force Special Warfare as a Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) specialist.
He is survived by wife Pichayada Yaiduang, children Madison, Gunner, Macee and Jagger Hobbs, and their children; his father Rex Hobbs Jr. and stepmother, Suzanne Hobbs; three sisters, Brandee Bratton, Lacey Penny and Jessie Alva; his grandmother, Billie Thompson and several aunts and cousins.
The IHS Class of 1992 posted a lengthy tribute to Hobbs on its Facebook page.
“His dedication to excellence and commitment to protecting others earned him the admiration and respect of all who served alongside him,” the post read.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
