On the night of Sunday, November 27th, pilot Patrick Merkle, 66, of Washington D.C., and passenger Janet Williams were flying from White Plains, New York to Gaithersburg, Maryland in a small passenger plane. At around 5:30 PM they accidentally crashed into a transmission tower as they approached their destination. The crash left over 88,000 without power in the Montgomery County area.
#BREAKING: A small plane has crashed into a high voltage powerlines
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) November 27, 2022
#Montgomery | #Maryland
Dozens of emergency crews are responding to a small aircraft that has crashed into high voltage powerlines, causing massive power outages too 80,000 people in Montgomery county MD pic.twitter.com/pZIo9DDvVB
The two remained there suspended from the electrical tower from 5:30 PM until 12:30 AM as crews worked tirelessly to ground the tower to prevent electrocution and fix the plane to the tower to prevent it from falling.
ICYMI @MontgomeryCoMD Rescue operations @mcfrs @dcfireems Technical Rescue Team(s) rescue/removed 2 adult occupants trapped on plane that crashed into power lines in Gaithersburg, MD area. Tower & Crane company (contractors) working w/ PEPCO & @mcfrs to get plane down. https://t.co/bgesIAf7uQ pic.twitter.com/sY3O0Eq2tG
— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) November 28, 2022
Miraculously, the two passengers survived with non-life-threatening injuries. One is in the hospital recovering and the other has reportedly been released. PEPCO (The Potomac Electric Power Company) announced they will begin repairs after conducting a full assessment of the damage. It’s not yet known what caused the crash but the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are currently investigating.
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