GCI executive recalls plane crash that killed Ted Stevens

On a rainy Monday afternoon in remote Southwest Alaska, the news of a missing plane propelled Ron Duncan, chief executive of General Communications Inc., into a world of grief. Nine of his close friends had boarded a GCI prop plane at the company's lodge and were headed off on a short flight to a fish camp. When Duncan learned the plane had never arrived at its destination, he and his wife -- a doctor -- would set out to rescue their friends on a mountainside.

Upon reaching the wreckage of the single-engine Otter, Duncan's wife discovered the crash had killed former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, along with Duncan's close friend, GCI executive Dana Tindall. Her daughter, 16-year-old Corey Tindall, had also died. Former Stevens aide Bill Phillips and pilot Terry Smith, another close friend of Duncan's, were dead, too. All died from blunt -force trauma.

Four others passengers -- Philips' 13-year-old son Willy, former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe and his 19 year old son, Kevin, and businessman Jim Morhard -- are recovering from injuries.

On Friday, a National Transportation Safety Board official told reporters that one of the survivors doesn't recall the plane making any unusual movements or sounds before it crashed. "They were flying along, and they just stopped flying," the survivor told investigators, according to NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman.

On Friday, less than five days after the accident, Duncan himself recalled the crash and what he knew of his pilot friend who he'd entrusted with the lives of his friends.

'Best pilot in the state of Alaska'

Click to view more photos of the single-engine Otter that crashed.

As investigators continue to piece together what facts they can extract from the wreckage and the rattled survivors, Duncan said he is confident a competent pilot was at the controls. Terry Smith helped him learn to fly nearly three decades ago and the two flew together numerous times over the last 20 years, Duncan said.

As with any plane crash, investigators review the pilot's background and experience. In the case of Smith, a former Alaska Airlines pilot and experienced bush pilot, many friends and other pilots have said he was among the best in the state.

Duncan acknowledged that Smith was grieving in the days leading up to the crash, having just returned from the funeral for his son-in-law -- an Air Force pilot killed when a military cargo plane crashed just days earlier.

Still, Duncan had no problem with GCI hiring Smith on contract to replace the company's regular pilot at GCI's lodge, where the company has for years invited employees, clients, friends and sometimes politicians and regulators. The regular pilot unexpectedly "walked out" earlier this summer for reasons unrelated to flying, Duncan said. Smith had worked for GCI on and off for years, and he and other highly-regarded pilots had been brought in to fill the summer vacancy in shifts, he said.