Ex-senator’s death stuns many

August 11, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

JUNEAU, Alaska

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 southeastern 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 death of Stevens, 86, 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.

Investigators 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 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 at 1:49 p.m.; it was three miles by 2:22, 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; 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 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 are fishing companions and longtime Washington colleagues.

Stevens was one of two survivors in a 1978 plane crash at Anchorage International Airport that killed his wife, Ann, and several others.

“Alaska has lost one of its greatest statesmen and a true pioneer of our state with the passing of Senator Ted Stevens,” said Begich’s son, Mark, an Anchorage Democrat who narrowly defeated Stevens in 2008.

His counterpart, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, said the state had lost a hero, and “I lost a dear friend,” praising his service during World War II.

A White House spokesman said President Barack Obama called Stevens’ widow, Catherine, on Tuesday afternoon to express his condolences.

“A decorated World War II veteran, Sen. Ted Stevens devoted his career to serving the people of Alaska and fighting for our men and women in uniform,” Obama said in prepared remarks.

Stevens was appointed in December 1968 and became the longest-serving Republican in Senate history. (The late Strom Thurmond was in the Senate longer than Stevens, but he spent a decade there as a Democrat before switching to the GOP.)

The wiry octogenarian was a legend in his home state, where he was known as “Uncle Ted.”

He was named Alaskan of the Century in 1999 for having the greatest impact on the state in 100 years. He brought in “Stevens money” that literally helped keep the remote state solvent. The Anchorage airport is also named in his honor.

Stevens’ standing in Alaska was toppled by corruption allegations and a federal trial in 2008. He was convicted of all seven counts — and narrowly lost to Begich in the election the following week. But five months later, Attorney General Eric Holder dropped the indictment and declined to proceed with a new trial because of prosecutorial misconduct.