Investigators have spoken to two of the survivors from the Alaska plane crash that killed former Sen. Ted Stevens. One survivor says there was no warning of any problems before they crashed.

Enlarge AP/ NTSB This photo taken Wednesday and released by the NTSB shows the wreckage from the plane crash that killed former Sen. Ted Stevens and four others. The plane carrying former senator Ted Stevens and a group of fishing companions was flying along normally when it suddenly slammed into an upward sloping side of a mountain, one of the survivors told investigators Friday. The survivor, who was not identified, said "he detected no changes in pitch or engine noise," said National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Debbie Hersman. "They were flying along and they just stopped flying," the survivor said, according to Hersman. The account by the survivor is the strongest evidence yet that there was no mechanical problem or loss of control before the crash. It is consistent with one of the most common types of accident, in which a pilot flies a fully functional plane into the ground, usually due to poor visibility. Hersman said the team who had examined the wreckage found that the propellers were twisted and had extensive impact marks. Though investigators will perform extensive analysis to say for sure, such damage can indicate that the engine was running normally. Stevens and four others died Monday afternoon when the amphibious plane they were taking to a remote fishing camp slammed into a brush-covered mountain. Four other passengers survived, but had to spend the night on the mountain before being rescued. The weather was rainy with a blanket of low clouds. The plane was equipped with a modern suite of satellite-based navigation equipment, including a computerized mapping program that is designed to alert pilots if they get too close to the ground or other obstructions, Hersman said. One of the challenges faced by investigators will be to determine why this sophisticated device designed specifically to prevent such accidents did not help in this case. Hersman said it was not clear whether the terrain warning system was switched on at the time of the crash. The pilot of the plane, Theron "Terry" Smith, who also died in the crash, had just been hired by the telecommunications firm that was hosting Stevens and the others, Hersman said. He had begun flying for General Communications Inc. in August and had approximately 10 hours of flying time for the company at the time of the accident. Smith had grown up flying in Alaska and had a total of more than 29,000 hours flying time on everything from bush planes to the Boeing 737, which he flew for years at Alaska Airlines. However, he had only 35 hours in the Otter, Hersman said. Smith was the pilot of a plane that crashed on Aug. 26, 1997, Hersman said. The Cessna 185E he was flying nosed over after landing in King Salmon, Alaska, according to the NTSB report. Investigators faulted Smith for his "failure to maintain directional control" on the runway. Investigators also interviewed another survivor of the crash, but he told them that he had fallen asleep and did not awake until the accident. The NTSB released three high-definition photos of the crash scene. The close ups of the red amphibious plane show that it was heavily damaged when it struck the upward sloping side of the mountain. The craft came to rest in brush up to the top of the plane and the impact created a crack through the fuselage that appeared to have severed the forward section from the middle and tail. USA TODAY reported Thursday that a state-of-the-art emergency beacon that was registered to the aircraft did not broadcast its signal, which could have launched the rescue effort earlier. The beacon would have sent an encoded signal to a constellation of satellites with its identity and location, said Chris O'Connors, program manager for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system. It was not known why the beacon did not function. The emergency locator transmitter, or ELTs, are designed to automatically transmit an alert after the impact of a crash. It's unlikely any of the dead could have survived if the rescue had occurred sooner, the state medical examiner, Dr. Katherine Raven, told the Associated Press. She said the injuries were "severe and fatal," though she could not detail injuries to individuals because of confidentiality rules. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more