Ted Stevens Apparently in Serious Plane Crash in Rural Alaska

Anchorage--

Former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens (R.-Alaska) is reported to have been a passenger on a plane that apparently crashed in southwest Alaska and killed five of the nine people aboard. Other people on the plane apparently include former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, who used to work for Stevens on Capitol Hill.

Details are still sketchy, as bad weather has hampered access to the scene.

Ted Stevens has got to be one of the most experienced fliers in the world who has not been a professional pilot most of his life. Stevens was a military pilot during World War II and a recreational pilot after moving to Alaska in 1950. Although visitors to Alaska often concern themselves with the possibility of bear attacks, the bigger dangers on the Last Frontier are light plane crashes and drowning. Stevens himself barely survived a crash in Anchorage in 1978 that killed his wife and four others among the seven on the plane.

Initial reports about incidents in remote areas are often wrong, so hope for the best.