Evan McMorris-Santoro August 10, 2010, 3:39 PM

The DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter that went down in Alaska last night, killing former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and carrying other officials, was a prime example of a sturdy, reliable aircraft wilderness pilots have flown for decades, aviation experts and bush pilots told me today.

A pilot on the ground in Dillingham, Alaska who is familiar with the exact aircraft that crashed told me that the DHC-3 Stevens was flying on was a “beautiful and well-maintained airplane” that was an example of the best of the best available to Alaskan bush pilots.

“It’s a really well-built airframe,” charter pilot Tom Schlagel told me. In his own Dillingham-based charter business, Schlagel uses a smaller version of the same DeHavilland plane that crashed, though, as he told me, his is “less fancy” than the one that went down last night.

Bob van der Linden, Aeronautics Division chair at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, said that the Otter was designed by DeHavilland — a Canadian firm — to deal with the tough terrain of the northern wilderness. DeHavilland was built specifically for the private market — to transport people and passengers across some of the planet’s harshest terrain — and so far nothing has come along to replace it.

The planes are no longer built, but 50-year-old airframes (like the one that crashed yesterday) are common in the wilderness charter industry. The Otter that Stevens flew in was fully refitted with a jet-turbine propeller engine, new avionics and updated electronics. Van der Linden said planes like that one represent the top of the bush pilot industry.

“It’s not as comfortable as an airliner but it can get places airliners can’t,” he said. “The wings are designed to provide lift when flying low and slow, and the plane can take off and land at short strips.”

Van der Linden said it’s unlikely that the high-profile wreck of the Otter in Alaska will keep the aircraft grounded in the future.

“[Crashes] have had no impact in the past,” he said. “This plane is extremely rugged, and designed for extremely rugged places.”

Ian Butter, who runs the Otter fansite DHC3Otter.com, told me that thanks to the engine refits (like the one on the plane that Stevens crashed in), Otters will continue to be a fixture on the wilderness aviation scene for the foreseeable future.

“[The refits have] effectively re-borne the aircraft for the 21st Century,” Butter said, adding that the DHC-3 “provides a very well tried and tested engine/airframe combination.”

Schlagel, the Dillingham pilot, said that on days like today, wilderness pilots take stock of their jobs — but he said he’ll keep flying his DeHavilliand.

“You just count your lucky stars,” he said when I asked what goes through his mind when he hears about a tragedy like last night’s. “And then you’re thankful that you’re having a good day.”

Alaska, Alaska Plane Crash, Ted Stevens