A small plane taking off from New York became entangled and suspended in the air between power lines at 85 feet from height in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Miraculously, the two people on board were rescued alive early yesterday morning, after the accident that occurred on Sunday night. They had departed from the Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York.
Rescue teams were able to get the pilot and passenger out of the small plane around 1 am Monday and both were taken away with injuries to Suburban Hospital.
Police identified the pilot as Patrick Merkle, of 30 years a resident of Washington, DC and passenger as Jan Williams (85) of Louisiana. The authorities were in contact with them by cell phone while they were trapped in the cables.
Local police closed the roads in the area while rescue operations were carried out. The plane was secured to the tower so that it would not fall and the utility crews cut off the electricity, affecting some 66, homes and businesses.
Most power was restored Monday morning, but Montgomery County Public Schools were closed yesterday.
The plane that crashed was a single-engine Mooney M11J with registration N201RF, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The accident occurred at around 5: 30 pm in the area of Rothbury Drive and Goshen Road, Gaithersburg .
A 550 call released shows the moments after a small plane crashed into power lines in the Gaithersburg area trapping and injuring the pilot and passenger. The plane was heading towards Montgomery Airpark. https://t.co/O0H2nhTzRF pic.twitter.com/LVKRWdIfCm
—CBS News (@CBSNews) November 29,
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer said the plane had become entangled in a power line tower and hovered about 85 feet in the air, indicated Fox News.
Piringer detailed that experts from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the FAA were carrying out the investigation, along with the Maryland State Police. There were no signs of criminal activity in principle.
At the beginning of October, an experienced pilot died when the plane in which he was traveling unaccompanied crashed during the day in East Hampton Town, Long Island (NY), minutes after taking off. A part of the ship was left hanging from a tree.
Update – Gburg, MD plane crash, (~2022a) 2 adults rescued & transported & today medical conditions reportedly improving; @MDSP coordinating investigation w/ @NTSB; at the height ~201K w/o power, @PepcoConnect restored all @MontgomeryCoMD power by 11: 29p; https://t.co/t3yRh7zNez https://t.co/fX3CCogJqk pic.twitter.com/kEFTFndTw9 — Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) November 30,
WATCH: In last briefing as Council President @GabeAlbornoz1 expressed gratitude to local and state first responders, and Pepco for quickly restoring electricity to homes and businesses after a small plane crashed into power lines in Gaithersburg. https://t.co/CLmnBnI9ue— MyMCMedia (@mymcmedia) November 30, 2022