911 call released of moments after small plane crashed into electricity tower in Montgomery County
BALTIMORE - The release of a pilot's lifesaving 911 call is giving us a clearer picture of what happened when the small aircraft crashed into a power tower Sunday evening in Montgomery County.
The pilot and passenger were trapped in a plane for seven hours before finally being safely rescued early Monday.
"I heard a big boom then it was a flash, then I heard sirens about 15 mins after," a bystander said.
The crash was followed by a dramatic rescue from technical specialists, firefighters and first responders in Gaithersburg.
"Montgomery County 911 what's the address of the emergency?" a dispatcher asked the pilot.
The distressing 911 calls were made public by Montgomery County Police, detailing the moments after the plane crashed into power transmission towers.
"I've flown into a tower to the Northwest of Gaithersburg airport, it's one of the electrical towers," the pilot told dispatchers. "Believe it or not, the aircraft is pinned in the tower."
Two people, the pilot and passenger, were trapped in a web of high-voltage power lines that knocked out power to more than 100,000 customers.
"I do not know how long we're going to be able to stay here," the pilot said.
"Wait, are you the airplane pilot?" a dispatcher said.
"Yes, I am the pilot," the dispatcher answered.
"Wait stay on the line with me," the dispatcher continued.
The pilot, later identified as 65-year-old Patrick Merkle, from Washington, D.C., told the 911 dispatcher on a dying cellphone he had one injured passenger.
"We got head injuries from being banged around in the cockpit," the pilot said.
Dangling from 100 feet up in the tower, bystanders looked on.
"I'm just concerned about our articulation and the possibility of us sliding out and going tail first to the ground and that would not be a survivable distance," the pilot said.
Amazingly, through precision and coordination, the tense hours-long rescue effort came to a safe end.
