ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
Former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, one of four survivors of the Aug. 10 plane crash near Dillingham that killed former Sen. Ted Stevens and four others, appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” Friday and spoke about the ordeal. O'Keefe was on a fishing trip with his son Kevin and his longtime friend Stevens when, without a hint of trouble or a warning, their DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter slammed into a rugged Alaskan mountainside.
“My first vivid memory was just being so stunned that this -- you know, something had happened,” O’Keefe told NBC's Ann Curry for “Dateline.”
Wearing a neck-brace and a cast on his left leg, O'Keefe visited with “The Today Show’s” Matt Lauer and reflected on the first moments after the crash. One of his first thoughts was how was his son Kevin, originally seated next to pilot Terry Smith, was dangling upside-down.
“It was just a surreal look of him just kind of hanging there,” O’Keefe said.
“Still in the harness?” Lauer asked.
“Still in the harness,” O’Keefe said.
“Not moving?” Lauer asked.
“Yes, he was unconscious at the moment, and came to a few minutes later,” O’Keefe said.
“Can you desribe the moment when you heard him speak for the first time?” Lauer asked.
“Relief,” O’Keefe said.
It was that relief which O’Keefe credits with helping him survive until rescuers eventually came many hours later. He says he's had plenty of time to question why he survived, but others did not.
“It was one of those cases where you wonder, and I'll continue to wonder until my last breath, I'm sure,” O’Keefe said.
The cause of the seaplane crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigators have indicated the injuries to those who died were so severe that the response time was probably not a factor.
