DILLINGHAM, Alaska (AP) — Federal investigators say the plane carrying former Sen. Ted Stevens crashed into a mountain with such force that it left a 300-foot gash on the slope.
NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman provided new details about the Monday crash in a rugged section of Alaska.
She said the group had left a lodge for a salmon fishing camp and crashed about 15 minutes later. A doctor and two EMTs were flown to the scene three hours later and tended to the injured during a damp and chilly night.
Hersman said the 1957 plane was overhauled in 2005 and flown by a pilot with 29,000 hours of flight time.
The crash killed Stevens and four others. Four people survived, including former NASA chief Sean O’Keefe.
