Those Who Survived, Those Who Did Not

Former NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe, his son, and two others survived the crash of a privately owned airplane in Alaska, but former Senator Ted Stevens and four others did not. Mr. O’Keefe reportedly was “badly injured.”

The New York Times has identified those who were aboard the aircraft. The survivors are Mr. O’Keefe, 54, and his teenage son, Kevin; Jim Morhard of Alexandria, VA; and William “Willy” Phillips, 13. The deceased are former Senator Stevens, 86; William “Bill” Phillips Sr.; Dana Tindall, 48, and Corey Tindall, 16, of Anchorage; and the pilot, Theron “Terry” Smith, 62, of Eagle River, Alaska.

The group was headed to a lodge near Lake Aleknegik for a fishing expedition. The plane, a DeHavilland DHC-3T, and the lodge are owned by GCI, the Alaskan telecommunications provider, according to news reports. The cause of the crash is under investigation, but the Times cites an Alaskan bush pilot who says the GCI pilot apparently was lost in cloud cover and was trying to increase his altitude when the crash occurred.

Senator Stevens survived an earlier airplane crash in 1978 that claimed the life of his first wife, Ann. In that case, he was one of two survivors of seven aboard an aircraft that crashed at the Anchorage airport according to news reports.