Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens Dies in Plane Crash
DILLINGHAM, Alaska (AP) _ An amphibious plane carrying former Sen. Ted Stevens crashed into a remote Alaska mountainside, killing the state's most beloved political figure and four others and stranding the survivors on a rocky, brush-covered slope overnight until rescuers could reach them.
Stevens and the eight other people in the single-engine plane were on a fishing trip when the flight experienced sudden fog and rain in a rugged section of southwestern Alaska and slammed into a mountainside. The passengers included former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe and three teenagers.
Volunteers discovered the wreckage late Monday and tended to the injured, including O'Keefe and his teenage son, during a damp and cold night on the mountain until help could arrive Tuesday.
The 86-year-old Stevens' death stunned lawmakers and residents alike because of his pre-eminence in Alaska history: A decorated World War II pilot who survived a deadly 1978 plane crash, he was the longest-serving GOP senator in history and became the patron saint of Alaska politics as he brought billions of federal dollars home.
One failed effort _ the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" _ became part of his national legacy, as did corruption convictions that helped foil his 2008 campaign after 40 years in office. The case was later tossed out.
"He is one of the real giants," said Paul Brown, a consultant who was having lunch at an outdoor cafe in Anchorage. "He dedicated his life to this state."
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board arrived late Tuesday at the crash site outside Dillingham, located on Bristol Bay about 325 miles southwest of Anchorage. The cause was not immediately known, but the flights at Dillingham are often perilous through the mountains, even in good weather.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus said the plane, a 1957 DeHavilland DHC-3T registered to Anchorage-based General Communications Inc., took off at 2 p.m. Monday from a GCI corporate site on Lake Nerka, heading to a lodge on Lake Aleknagik.
He said the plane was flying by visual flight rules, and was not required to file a flight plan.
National Weather Service data shows that weather conditions deteriorated between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Monday _ the approximate time the FAA said the plane took off. Visibility at Dillingham, the nearest observation area, was about 10 miles with overcast skies at 1:49 p.m.; it was three miles by 2:22 p.m., with light rain, fog and mist reported.
Volunteer pilots were dispatched around 7 p.m. after the plane was overdue at its destination. They came upon the wreckage about a half hour later, authorities said. Rescuers could not arrive until after daybreak because fog and rain made it too difficult to reach the site.
Four survivors were taken to Providence Hospital in Anchorage with "varying degrees of injuries," Alaska State Troopers said. The survivors include O'Keefe, 54; his teenage son, who was listed in serious condition late Tuesday afternoon; William "Willy" Phillips Jr., 13; and Jim Morhard, of Alexandria, Va.
Former NASA spokesman Glenn Mahone said the O'Keefes had broken bones and other injuries.
The victims were identified as Stevens; pilot Theron "Terry" Smith, 62, of Eagle River; William "Bill" Phillips Sr.; Dana Tindall, 48, of Anchorage and a CGI executive; and Corey Tindall, 16, of Anchorage.
Megan Peters, a spokeswoman for the troopers, said that the bodies have been recovered and were being taken to Anchorage.
Stevens and O'Keefe were fishing companions and longtime Washington colleagues who worked together on the Senate Appropriations Committee that the Republican lawmaker led for several years.
