Two trapped 'hundred feet in air' hours after small plane crashed into powerlines in Montgomery Co.
BALTIMORE - Two people have been stranded for hours in a small plane after crashing into powerlines in Montgomery County Sunday evening.
The crash also caused a widespread power outage in the area.
Officials said a pilot and a passenger have been dangling "hundred feet in the air" since around 5:40 p.m. after crashing a single-engine Mooney M20J into wires at Rothbury Drive and Goshen Road near Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, Maryland, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
PIO Pete Piringer said on Twitter that the people on board, identified by Maryland State Police as pilot Patrick Merkle, 65, of Washington, D.C. and passenger Jan Williams, 66, of Louisiana, are uninjured and that rescuers had been in contact with them.
"They appear to be OK at this time but the problem is, they are dangling about a hundred feet in the air and everything is still energized," PIO Pete Piringer said. "These are some main power transition lines in the area. We have our hazmat teams here, along with others."
Just after 9 p.m., Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said in a briefing that emergency responders continue to work to free the two from the plane.
However, there are several steps that must be taken to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
"While there is a large area of power outage in Montgomery County, there is no other way to determine if it is safe to access the tower until it is grounded or bonded which means crews have to go up to the wires to put clamps or cables onto the wires to ensure there is no static electricity, no residual power," Goldstein said.
At 10 p.m., Goldstein said the tower is no longer energized, but they are still concerned about the static energy.
Goldstein said Pepco's contractors are on site, as well as an "extraordinarily large crane" from a local company.
"One of our concerns is the safety of our occupants in the airplane, the safety of fire and rescue personnel and the rescue thereof," Goldstein said. "We are taking measured and risked-balanced steps to approach this activity and doing it in a manner to extricate these two from the plane."
Pepco confirmed that the crash affected approximately 85,000 customers and said they are working with authorities to assess the damage.
"We have confirmed that a private plane came into contact with Pepco's transmission lines in Montgomery County, resulting in an outage to approximately 85,000 customers," the utility company tweeted. "We are assessing damage and working closely with Montgomery County fire and emergency services."
