Authorities said a small plane crashed into a transmission tower in Maryland Sunday, knocking out power to about 117,000 customers as rescuers raced to rescue two people on the stranded plane. at about 100 feet above the ground.
Pilot Patrick Merkle, 65, of Washington, and passenger, Jan Williams, 66, of Louisiana, did not appear to be seriously injured, Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Department, said today. Sunday.
He said authorities contacted two people as the plane dangled from power lines and towers. Superintendent Scott Goldstein, of the county’s fire and rescue service, said at a news conference Sunday night that officials have told pilots and passengers to save battery on their phones to communicate. with the rescue team.
Piringer said the pilot and passengers flew to Montgomery County Airpark, an airport near Gaithersburg, Md., about 40 miles west of Baltimore. The Federal Aviation Administration said the single-engine Mooney M20J aircraft departed from Westchester County Airport in White Plains, NY, on Sunday.
The cause of the crash is still unknown, which occurred in Montgomery Village, Md., around 5:40 p.m. and was posted on social media by residents and officials with unusual photos. Photos and videos show the plane entangled in power lines and seemingly suspended in the air in a jumble of metal.
By 9:30 p.m. Sunday, officials were planning a rescue, Sheriff Goldstein said: “First, teams will go up the tower and make sure the power lines are free of excess power. He said the teams would lay cables on wires and transmit any static electricity to the ground source.
Another crew would then use a dump truck – which is used to lift workers – or a “extra-large crane” to reach the plane, secure it to the tower, and take the pilot. and passengers go, Sheriff Goldstein said.
Sheriff Goldstein said: “It won’t be stable until it’s chained and secured in place. “Any movement, any random movement, can make the situation worse.”
Sheriff Goldstein said to make matters more difficult, dense fog in the area is worsening visibility and will “make things wet and slippery”.
By 10 p.m., trucks had arrived on the scene and teams were preparing to embark on what officials predict is a risky operation that will take hours. At one point, more than 100 firefighters and rescuers were on the scene.
“We are taking steps to measure and balance risk to approach this,” said Director Goldstein.
Pepco, the energy company in Maryland affected by the accident, said on Twitter that “pending field clearance before crews can begin work to stabilize the electrical infrastructure and begin restoring service.”
In addition to the dangerous rescue operation, officials and residents alike faced an adjacent problem: Large swaths of the county, home to about a million residents, remained without power Sunday night and Officials aren’t sure how long it will take to restore, given the massive damage to the tower.
Montgomery County Public Schools System speak that because more than 40 schools and six of its office facilities lost power on Sunday night, it would consider canceling classes on Monday. Sheriff Goldstein said two hospitals in the area, MedStar Montgomery Medical Center and Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, were operating at limited capacity Sunday because of power outages.
Mr Piringer said there were reports of elevators stalling and traffic lights malfunctioning on Sunday night.
