Aug 10 (Reuters) - The chief executive of European aerospace giant EADS' (EAD.PA) North American unit, Sean O'Keefe, survived a plane crash in southwestern Alaska, a source briefed on the matter said on Tuesday.

O'Keefe and his son survived the crash, which killed former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska and several others when the plane went down near Bristol Bay on Monday night, the source said, declining further identification.

John Bouker, owner of Bristol Bay Air Service in Dillingham, said he found the wreckage Monday night. "I was in the air last night about 7:30 p.m., flying an air-taxi trip," Bouker said in a telephone interview. "Dillingham flight service station told me that GCI was concerned about the location of their Otter. They hadn't seen or heard from their Otter since 2 o'clock in the afternoon. So I got the information where they were going from and where they were going to and I backtracked their flight path."

Bouker he saw the wreckage just below the cloud line.
"The fog kind of cleared and I found the airplane in the side of the mountain," he said. He didn't know the mountain name, or even if it had one, but it was in the Muklung Hills, about a third of way to way to their destination.

The Otter had plowed into the hill, Bouker said. "He bounced up the mountain. He looked like he was in a full power climb. ... He looked like he was climbing when he hit."

Guard chopper crashes in glacier rescue try

On Monday, the Guard had been circling an HC-130 and an HH-60 helicopter overhead awaiting a break in the weather that would allow a rescue attempt. That equipment was redeployed to the Dillingham area Monday night after an airplane crashed there killing five, including former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, Hayes said today. It wasn't clear when the Guard equipment returned.

The group of plane-crash survivors was not properly equipped for an extended glacier-top stay. Four pararescuemen from the Alaska Air National Guard began skiing four miles up the glacier Sunday night and arrived about 21 hours later with food, water, clothing and shelter to last up to three days.

They are remaining with the five airplane passengers until they can be rescued, Hayes said.

A survivor of the crash that killed five people including former Sen. Ted Stevens told investigators he didn't hear any strange engine noises before the floatplane struck a mountain north of Dillingham.

He didn't feel the plane tilt backward or forward either.
"They were flying along, and then they just stopped flying" said Deborah Hersman, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, recalling investigators' first interviews Friday with two of the four survivors.