Former US Sen Ted Stevens is feared onboard and some media outlets indicate he may be one of the dead.
tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010 … -crash.php
EDIT: Sounds like it might be N455A registered to GCI Communications (DEHAVILLAND DHC-3) but that’s just from my research given the news stories.
Ex-NASA chief and current CEO of EADS Aerospace Sean O’Keefe was also on the plane according to CNN.
Reports ex NASA head and his son have survived the crash.
I notice this Lifeguard flight has just departed Dillingham en-route to Anchorage - very likely related to this incident
airplane.
Looks like his Bridge to Nowhere has turned into a Flight to Nowhere.
You can’t beat the low altitude record you can only tie it. This has the all to familiar feeling of yet another CFIT accident.
Alaska has the Capstone program and I would love to know if the aircraft was equipped with the Chilton system or the earlier Apollo hardware.
Very tasteless- someone please break-out the troll spray.
That company also fly’s N81MR. I use to fly it. VERY nice -35
Aviation related;
Statement from Alaska Airlines, where N455A pilot was a retired Chief Pilot, it is also being reported his son-in-law was killed in last weeks C-17 crash in Alaska.
Terry Smith had many close friends and colleagues at Alaska Airlines who will miss him dearly, and we extend our heartfelt sympathies to Terry’s family and loved ones. Captain Terry Smith retired from Alaska Airlines in 2007 after a 28-year career during which he served as chief pilot of our Anchorage base. Smith also flew as captain on two historic flights across the Bering Sea in the late 1980s that laid the groundwork for Alaska Airlines to offer the first U.S.-scheduled service to the Russian Far East in 1991. The Boeing 737-200 used on those flights bears Smith’s name and is now on exhibit at the Alaska Aviation Museum in Anchorage.
Aviation related;
cnn.com/2010/US/08/11/alaska … tml?hpt=T1
Includes video of pilot who found the wreckage, describes accident as a CFIT. Aircraft was flying in a valley, and flew into the side of a mountain.
You should have quit with this post Karl, it showed a measure of restraint.
While Stevens may have been a certified slime-ball, he’s not the only one who died in this crash. Please don’t lose sight of these other individuals in your apparent attempt to celebrate the loss of Stevens.
Generally a very, very bad course of action. Another avoidable accident. Very sad.
I was shaking my head in puzzlement as I watched the CNN report this morning. One can only imagine that Smith somehow lost positional awareness due to rapidly deteriorating MET, especially given the fact that he was on a route that was supposedly well known to him.
Given the descriptions of the impact and debris fields, one can only surmise that this was yet another unfortunate Alaskan case of CFIT, and it will be interesting to hear what information can be obtained from the survivors as to what was transpiring in the cockpit immediately before impact.
A granite filled cloud strikes again, very sad.
Uhg… More fodder for reason for delay of any rescue attempt
ELT failed to transmit 
I saw that too.
Could it have gone down gentle enough to not trigger the ELT? The article says they are usually in the tail. Assuming they were pulling up trying to climb, could the tail have eased down soft enough in the trees to not trigger it? I don’t know how they work, just spit balling.