I'm on my phone so I can't quite grab the original link, but there's some interesting info here:
adn.com said:Stevens plane crash leaves NTSB puzzled
(ERIKA BOLSTAD
ebolstad@adn.com)
Posted:05/24/2011 9:00 AM
WASHINGTON - The Alaska plane crash that killed former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and four others last August may have been caused by the pilot's temporary unresponsiveness, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.
Although pilot Terry Smith had suffered a stroke in 2006, the reason for his unresponsiveness "could not be established from the available information," the board found. Investigators ruled out weather conditions and mechanical problems as the cause of the plane's crash into a remote mountainside, yet were unable to pinpoint any exact reason for the plane crash.
The board's chairwoman, Deborah A.P. Hersman, apologized for such a vague finding, saying that while she was proud of the work done by NTSB investigators, it was unusual not to have settled on the exact cause of an accident. It is especially disappointing for the families, Hersman said.
But she also said that among the legacies of Stevens, a former World War II pilot, was a tradition of improving aviation safety, especially in the aviation-dependent state he represented in the U.S. Senate for 40 years.
"Several years ago, Alaska's senior senator told the administration officials that safety was a moral and professional duty of aviation stakeholders," she said. "If the recommendations that we make today are adopted and implemented, safety can be improved, particularly in Alaska."
The board did vote to recommend that the Federal Aviation Administration be clearer about its guidelines for issuing medical certifications to pilots who've had strokes. In its investigative findings, it determined that the flight surgeon who issued a medical certificate should have taken into consideration Smith's family history, the possibility of another stroke and the loss of cognitive function he experienced after the first stroke.
The NTSB also suggested that the FAA have clear and specific requirements for medical evaluations that would assess not only the adverse consequences of a stroke, but also the risk of another one.
One of the crash survivors, attorney James Morhard, said he had expected some conclusive evidence that would determine what caused the accident.
"It's disappointing that they didn't," he said. "I think a reasonable person would say we should have been able to get from the lodge to the fishing camp. And we didn't. But I also respect the process and I know they made every effort."
Morhard said he thinks each day about those who lost their lives.
"There were some great losses on that plane," Morhard said. "I'm still dealing with that."
Four people survived the crash, including former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe. They were among eight guests at a General Communications Inc. lodge and, at the time of the accident, were flying about 52 miles away to a salmon fishing camp. The survivors spent a perilous night on the mountain before they were rescued.
Killed were Stevens, 86; pilot Smith, 62, of Eagle River; Bill Phillips Sr., a lobbyist; Dana Tindall, 48, an executive with GCI; and Tindall's 16-year-old daughter, Corey Tindall.
Stevens was one of two survivors in a 1978 plane crash in Anchorage that killed his wife, Ann, and several others. His second wife, Catherine, and their daughter, Lily, both attended Tuesday's hearing. Catherine Stevens spoke extensively with Hersman after the hearing.
Smith, a 28-year veteran of Alaska Airlines, was considered an experienced pilot and came from a family of fliers, including his father. His wife, Terri Ellis Smith, is a pilot, and so is one of their sons.
The board asked extensive questions of its investigators about potential medical problems that could have caused of the accident - as well as whether emotional distress or fatigue played a part. Smith's son-in-law, a pilot in the Alaska Air National Guard, had died in the crash of a C-17 cargo plane just days before the Aug. 9 plane crash. There was some evidence Smith was deeply saddened by the death, Hersman said.
"We know he had some serious life events," she said. "We also have an interview with someone at he fish camp who spoke to the pilot the day before the accident and he related the pilot was visibly upset about the loss of his son-in-law and he questioned wither the pilot should be flying."
But the investigation ruled out any particular medical cause. They also ruled out emotional factors, said Dr. Malcolm Brenner, who studies human performance for the board. They also looked at - and ruled out - whether the crash was a deliberate act of suicide spurred by grief over his son-in-law's death.
"By all accounts, he was coping with it well," Brenner said of Smith's grief.
Investigators also noted that many other countries do not grant pilots health certificates after they've suffered a stroke.
"The question is not did the FAA certify a pilot who should not have been certified," said Dr. Mitch Garber, one of the board's medical investigators. "The question is: Did the FAA certify a pilot with insufficient information to make that determination?"
Since the accident, the NTSB has recommended a number of safety improvements, including asking the FAA to require inspections of emergency locator transmitters on general aviation aircraft to ensure they stay mounted and can function in an accident.
Aircraft involved in the search-and-rescue operation were unable to detect a signal from the plane's emergency locator transmitter. It had activated but had separated from its mounting bracket and antenna.
However, although it delayed the rescue, it did not delay it to the point it imperiled the survival of the people injured in the crash, the NTSB found. But they might have been found sooner, and possibly could have been evacuated more quickly from the mountainside, before nightfall and worsening weather conditions delayed their rescue.
