Breaking: Ex-Sen. Ted Stevens has died in a plane crash

[StarshipTitanic]

Severe weather has hampered the rescue operation for eight people believed to be on board a GCI-owned aircraft that crashed near Dillingham on Monday night with possible fatalities, according to state and federal officials.

The Alaska Air National Guard was called to the area about 20 miles north of Dillingham at about 7 p.m. after a passing aircraft saw the wreckage, spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said. Eight people were reported to be on board the aircraft, though their status wasn't immediately known, he said. There were possible fatalities, he said.

National Transportation Safety Board reported that it will send a "Go Team" from Washington, D.C., to Dillingham to investigate the crash. The teams can consist of up to a dozen or more specialists from the board's headquarters staff and are responsible for investigating major cases -- they are the arm that responds to "catastrophic airline crash sites" -- for the board, according to the NTSB.

The National Guard said an HC-130 and HH-60 helicopter were encountering inclement weather on the way and had difficultly navigating through Lake Clark Pass. They were still en route to the scene at about 11:30 p.m. and expected to arrive after midnight.

About five good Samaritans were already on scene helping the victims of the plane crash, Hayes said.

"They're not out there alone right now. There's people that are providing support," Hayes said. "From what I'm told, there are survivors on this aircraft. I don't know how many could be fatalities at this point."

The aircraft, which was reported overdue, bears the tail number N455A, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. That aircraft is a 1957 DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter registered to GCI, according to FAA records. The FAA did not immediately provide other information about how it knows that this is the aircraft.

Friends of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens said he was traveling Monday to the GCI-owned Agulowak Lodge near Lake Aleknagik, and they were concerned for him.

A woman who answered the phone at the Anchorage home of retired Air Force Gen. Joe Ralston, a good friend of Stevens, said Ralston was with Stevens' wife, Catherine, comforting her and trying to find out what was going on.

No one answered the phone at the homes of Stevens' daughter, Susan Covich, in Kenai, or his son, Ben, in Anchorage.

Monday's crash is at least the second crash in the area involving a GCI aircraft. In August 2002, a company-owned Magnum Beaver flying supplies from Dillingham to a GCI lodge and sportfishing camp in Wood-Tikchik State Park crashed at Lake Nerva after flipping because its dry-land gear was extended through the floats. The pilot was killed and two other GCI employees suffered minor injuries.

The Otter that crashed near Dillingham on Monday night appears to be the only aircraft owned by GCI, according to an online search of public documents.

GCI is an Anchorage-based provider of telephone, cable TV, Internet and wireless services across the state.

GCI officials did not return repeated calls and e-mails seeking comment Monday night.

Source.

Ongoing timeline of updates at TPM.

Too bad he didn't go to prison or he'd be (more likely to be) alive now.

[MKSheppard]

ex NASA Admin Sean Okeefe and one of his sons was on the plane too.

[Alyrium Denryle]

ex NASA Admin Sean Okeefe and one of his sons was on the plane too.

Which is the real shame. Not a tear for ted though

[Broomstick]

Just for reference - the airplane in question is a DeHavilland Otter (a larger version of the Beaver, basically), a single-engine prop plane capable of carrying 10-11 people which can be fitted with landing gear, skis, floats, or amphibious gear. They're pretty common in Alaska and Northern Canada (it's actually a Canadian manufactured airplane). In addition to civilian uses, many militaries also use them. They're considered tough and reliable bush planes.

Example:

[aerius]

He's dead.

Vancouver Sun link

Former U.S. senator Ted Stevens confirmed killed in Alaska plane crash: report

WASHINGTON - Former Republican U.S. Senator Ted Stevens was among those killed when a small plane crashed in Alaska on Monday night, local television station KTUU said on its website on Tuesday, quoting a longtime family friend.


KTUU quoted Dave Dittman, a former aide to the senator, as saying he was among the dead. There were conflicting reports about how many people were aboard the plane. Federal safety officials said early information indicated nine people were aboard and up to five were killed, while another source close to the matter said only eight were aboard and five were dead.


Earlier reports said a plane believed to be carrying eight passengers has crashed in Alaska.


The Anchorage Daily News reported that Alaska's former US senator Ted Stevens was travelling by plane Monday in the vicinity of the crash, and that his wife was concerned that he was on board the doomed aircraft.


The New York Times and Reuters said that an official who declined to be named confirmed Stevens was on the plane. The ex-senator's condition is unknown at this point.


According to Reuters, half of those aboard the plane were killed in the crash and a doctor is apparently on the scene, though rescuers are having trouble reaching the site because of bad weather, the source said, declining to be further identified.


Stevens lost his re-election bid in 2008 after he was convicted on corruption charges, but the case was later thrown out because of prosecutorial misconduct.


The Alaska Air National Guard was called to the area about 20 miles north of Dillingham about 7 p.m. Monday after a passing aircraft saw the wreckage, spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said. Eight people were reported to be on board the aircraft, though their status wasn't immediately known, he said. There were possible fatalities, he said.


National Transportation Safety Board reported that it will send a "Go Team" from Washington, D.C., to Dillingham to investigate the crash. The teams can consist of up to a dozen or more specialists from the board's headquarters staff and are responsible for investigating major cases — they are the arm that responds to "catastrophic airline crash sites" — for the board, according to the NTSB.


The National Guard said an HC-130 and HH-60 helicopter were encountering inclement weather on the way and had difficultly navigating through Lake Clark Pass. They were still en route to the scene about 11:30 p.m. and expected to arrive after midnight.


About five good Samaritans were already on scene helping the victims of the plane crash, Hayes said.


"They're not out there alone right now. There's people that are providing support," Hayes said. "From what I'm told, there are survivors on this aircraft. I don't know how many could be fatalities at this point."


The aircraft, which was reported overdue, bears the tail number N455A, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. That aircraft is a 1957 DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter registered to GCI, according to FAA records. The FAA did not immediately provide other information about how it knows that this is the aircraft.


Friends of former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens said he was travelling Monday to the GCI-owned Agulowak Lodge near Lake Aleknagik, and they were concerned for him.


A woman who answered the phone at the Anchorage home of retired Air Force Gen. Joe Ralston, a good friend of Stevens, said Ralston was with Stevens' wife, Catherine, comforting her and trying to find out what was going on.


No one answered the phone at the homes of Stevens' daughter, Susan Covich, in Kenai, or his son, Ben, in Anchorage.


The crash of the aircraft, which the newspaper identified as a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter propeller plane, is the third in less than two weeks in the remote, sparsely populated state.


Three people died earlier this month when a twin-engine cargo plane crashed in Denali National Park, and a US military C-17 Globemaster cargo plane crashed on a training mission late last month at the Elmendorf base near Alaska's biggest city Anchorage, killing all four crew members aboard.

[Lagmonster]

As of right now, most of the news outlets still have the "we have no freaking clue if he's alive or dead, only that he's there". A family friend of some sort apparently said he was dead, but later retracted that.

Course, he's a tough old coot; didn't he survive another plane crash in 78 when his first wife got killed?

[Flagg]

MSNBC has confirmed that Stevens is dead. NO word yet on O'Keefe. Too bad about Stevens, but anyone would be lucky to be 86 and still as active and apparently healthy as he was.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

According to Reuters O'Keefe and his son did survive the crash, while Stevens is, in fact, dead. NPR also states that Stevens is dead, but says nothing about O'Keefe.

(Reuters) - Former Senator Ted Stevens, who for years had a strong hand in controlling the nation's purse strings, died in a small plane crash that killed at least five people in his home state of Alaska, a family spokesman said on Tuesday.

The North American chief of European aerospace giant and Airbus maker EADS', Sean O'Keefe, and his son, survived the Monday night crash, a sourced briefed on the matter said.

Stevens, the longest serving Republican senator ever, chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and was a strong supporter of robust U.S. defense budgets. A family spokesman confirmed his death in the crash. He was 86.

The lawmaker lost his re-election bid in 2008 after he was convicted on corruption charges, but the case was later thrown out because of prosecutorial misconduct, including the withholding of exculpatory evidence from defense lawyers.

Stevens and O'Keefe were on a fishing trip in a remote part of Alaska, according to the congressional source, adding that the plane either crashed by a lake or into the water.

The single-engine, high-wing propeller plane, a DeHavilland DHC-3T, crashed about 10 miles northwest of Aleknagik, Alaska, at 8 p.m. local time on Monday (0400 GMT Tuesday), according to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

Federal safety officials said early information indicated that nine people were aboard and at least five were killed in the crash late on Monday, while another source close to the matter said eight people were aboard and that five were dead.

Bad weather initially hampered rescue efforts and two Alaska National Guard rescuers reached the scene early on Tuesday and were treating at least two survivors. They did not identify who had been treated or any of those that died.

"Poor weather remains a factor, as there is less than a quarter-mile visibility at the crash site and less than a 100-foot ceiling in the area," the Alaska National Guard said in a statement.

The plane wreckage was spotted Monday night and a private team hiked to the site to provide medical assistance during the night, the statement said.

O'Keefe, 54, a former NASA administrator and U.S. Navy secretary, is CEO of the North American unit of the European aerospace and defense group EADS that owns plane maker Airbus and is in a pitched battle with Boeing to win a potentially $50 billion contract to supply 179 refueling aircraft to the U.S. Air Force.

O'Keefe worked for Stevens for many years in Congress on annual spending matters including defense work.

(Additional reporting by John Crawley in Washington, Bill Rigby in Seattle and Yereth Rosen in Anchorage, editing by Anthony Boadle)

Bear in mind that the Reuters story only quotes "a source briefed in the matter." Which may or may not be more reliable than rolling a dice to determine whether O'Keefe is alive or not.

[LadyTevar]

Obama's Facebook updated with an Announcement of Condolences to Sen. Steven's family and to the families of the others who died in the crash.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Not to be droll... or dance on someone's grave....

But I am going to metaphorically dance on Ted Steven's grave. I like to think that this was a case of the Universe telling him to go fuck himself for his voting record in the Senate.

*does the little happy dance done by a certain deranged Hobbit when he bites the ring off of Frodo*

I am however glad to see O'Keefe and his son probably made it.

[Flagg]

Not to be droll... or dance on someone's grave....

But I am going to metaphorically dance on Ted Steven's grave. I like to think that this was a case of the Universe telling him to go fuck himself for his voting record in the Senate.

*does the little happy dance done by a certain deranged Hobbit when he bites the ring off of Frodo*

I am however glad to see O'Keefe and his son probably made it.

He's going to hell via a series of tubes.

[Alyeska]

My mom had to fly through that exact same storm within hours of Steven's plane crash. Dillingham is about 50 miles away from King Salmon. So pardon me for not being so happy about Steven's death as AD.

[Alyrium Denryle]

My mom had to fly through that exact same storm within hours of Steven's plane crash. Dillingham is about 50 miles away from King Salmon. So pardon me for not being so happy about Steven's death as AD.

And your mom made it through just fine... So no harm done. Granted the brush with danger to a close family member is never fun, but it worked out OK in the end.

[Alyeska]

My mom had to fly through that exact same storm within hours of Steven's plane crash. Dillingham is about 50 miles away from King Salmon. So pardon me for not being so happy about Steven's death as AD.

And your mom made it through just fine... So no harm done. Granted the brush with danger to a close family member is never fun, but it worked out OK in the end.

Yeah, I don't get happy when people die unless they were truly terrible. You set your sights pretty F*cking low if your happy Stevens died.

[Broomstick]

Would it be unreasonable to change the title to "Ted Stevens dead in a plane crash" as the uncertainty has now been removed?

[Alyrium Denryle]

My mom had to fly through that exact same storm within hours of Steven's plane crash. Dillingham is about 50 miles away from King Salmon. So pardon me for not being so happy about Steven's death as AD.

And your mom made it through just fine... So no harm done. Granted the brush with danger to a close family member is never fun, but it worked out OK in the end.

Yeah, I don't get happy when people die unless they were truly terrible. You set your sights pretty F*cking low if your happy Stevens died.

I am at a point where I take what I can get... All of the REALLY horrible people these days seem to refuse to die.

[FSTargetDrone]

Former CNN Science reported Miles O'Brien is tweeting that the O'Keefes have broken bones:

It was Kevin with Sean O'Keefe. Sorry about confusion. Former has a broken keg. Latter a broken pelvis. Sending good thoughts for recovery.

He is apparently friends with them.

[Alyeska]

I am at a point where I take what I can get... All of the REALLY horrible people these days seem to refuse to die.

You are a sad individual with a truly warped sense of morality.

[Alyeska]

Just for reference - the airplane in question is a DeHavilland Otter (a larger version of the Beaver, basically), a single-engine prop plane capable of carrying 10-11 people which can be fitted with landing gear, skis, floats, or amphibious gear. They're pretty common in Alaska and Northern Canada (it's actually a Canadian manufactured airplane). In addition to civilian uses, many militaries also use them. They're considered tough and reliable bush planes.

DeHavillands are extremely popular in Alaska. Beavers and Otters. The Otter you showed a picture of is often called a Super Otter for the quality of the upgrade to the original design. Twin Otters and Dash-8s are also quite common up there. I know a former Twin Otter pilot from Alaska who had a story to tell of an engine catching fire and losing more than 10,000 feet altitude while trying to put it out and flying near Denali at the time.

[Broomstick]

I am at a point where I take what I can get... All of the REALLY horrible people these days seem to refuse to die.

Granted that Dick Cheney no longer has a pulse yet still breathes and speaks - even he will perish (eventually).

Look, Stevens was no saint but he wasn't a Pol Pot or Hitler, either, and not so evil that other people dying with him would be acceptable cost as well. You are going a little over the top here, Alyrium. If it's how you feel it's how you feel, but it's also mean and vindictive of you.

[Alyrium Denryle]

I am at a point where I take what I can get... All of the REALLY horrible people these days seem to refuse to die.

You are a sad individual with a truly warped sense of morality.

1) Probably
2) That was half serious. Mostly I am a sad individual with a strong sense of ethics but more misanthropy than is healthy, and an equally unhealthy love for gallows humor.
3)The man was amazingly corrupt, one of the things Wrong with the senate, and until recently was also one of those who refused to die, living to the ripe old age of 86. He lived a long "good" life, I cannot think his death well after the median life expectancy is tragic, and he was a bad person who supported policies which damaged the environment, contributed to corporate/legislative corruption, reproductively enslaved women, and reduced me to second class citizenship. Cant say I am sad to see him gone. While I would never say that someone should actively harm him (seriously anyway), I can be glad when he dies in a freak accident.

Look, Stevens was no saint but he wasn't a Pol Pot or Hitler, either, and not so evil that other people dying with him would be acceptable cost as well.

That assumes I must be happy for the collateral. No. I am sad for the others killed and injured. They did not deserve it and ideally Stevens should have died from acute renal failure or something.

If it's how you feel it's how you feel, but it's also mean and vindictive of you.

Which I wont deny. Being mean and vindictive is not morally wrong. It certainly indicates that I am not a very virtuous person in that respect, but no one is perfect.

[FSTargetDrone]

Granted that Dick Cheney no longer has a pulse yet still breathes and speaks - even he will perish (eventually).

Incidentally, Cheney was just recently released from the hospital in the last few days, after having his 3967th heart surgery. Give or take.

How does he survive? If not for my disbelief in all things supernatural, I'd swear he made a pact with some demonic being in exchange for whatever soul he may once have had.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Granted that Dick Cheney no longer has a pulse yet still breathes and speaks - even he will perish (eventually).

Incidentally, Cheney was just recently released from the hospital in the last few days, after having his 3967th heart surgery. Give or take.

How does he survive? If not for my disbelief in all things supernatural, I'd swear he made a pact with some demonic being in exchange for whatever soul he may once have had.

Well, Scalia has the monopoly on being a Lich. Cheney however just had his brain replaced with a Hate Golem, when his heart is not functioning, the pure evil radiating from the Golem sustains him. Either that or he has a variety of Simulcra and when one of his bodies dies his mind is transfered to a new body. The problem is that the Simulcra are identical so he keeps having heart issues over and over again. Maybe one day he will run out of clones?

[Broomstick]

Oh, in case anyone thought I was kidding - Cheney really doesn't have a pulse anymore. The Left Ventricular Assist Device or LVAD that was implanted in him has taken over most of the pumping action of his heart and provides a continuous flow rather than the pulsing action of a natural heart. So, um, yeah, that's a little creepy.

A more typical use than keeping Darth Cheney alive is using these devices to sustain people waiting for heart transplants and, more and more often to extend life when the heart is failing. The sad thing is that a slimeball like Cheney has his paid for by our tax money but nearly 50 million Americans have absolutely no access to such medical technology as they have neither the insurance coverage for it nor the money to pay for it themselves.

Excuse me, I have to go vomit now.

[Uncluttered]

Oh, in case anyone thought I was kidding - Cheney really doesn't have a pulse anymore. The Left Ventricular Assist Device or LVAD that was implanted in him has taken over most of the pumping action of his heart and provides a continuous flow rather than the pulsing action of a natural heart. So, um, yeah, that's a little creepy.

A more typical use than keeping Darth Cheney alive is using these devices to sustain people waiting for heart transplants and, more and more often to extend life when the heart is failing. The sad thing is that a slimeball like Cheney has his paid for by our tax money but nearly 50 million Americans have absolutely no access to such medical technology as they have neither the insurance coverage for it nor the money to pay for it themselves.

Excuse me, I have to go vomit now.

Nice comment about the pulse. I had thought they had "fixed" this issue with the LVAD, but I guess not. He's gotta carry documentation which states he's not dead.
The sad part here is that you know that Dick is going to get his replacement heart. It's going to be at the expence of some poor kid whom he bumps from the list. I feel sorry for anyone of his blood type.