Crews rescue 2 from plane caught in power lines in Maryland

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) — Two people were extricated from a small plane early Monday in Maryland, several hours after they crashed into power lines, causing widespread outages in the surrounding county.

Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said the plane was secured to the tower at 12:16 a.m. and the first occupant was removed from the plane at 12:25 a.m. The second occupant was out at 12:36 a.m.

Goldstein did not say which of the men, identified by Maryland State Police as pilot Patrick Merkle, 65, of Washington, D.C., and passenger Jan Williams, 66, of Louisiana, were rescued first from the plane that was stuck about 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground.

He said both men suffered “serious injuries” from the crash and that hypothermia was also an issue. Both men were transported to local trauma centers with non-life threatening injuries, Goldstein said.



A small plane rests on live power lines after crashing, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022, in Montgomery Village, a northern suburb of Gaithersburg, Md. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/maryland-plane-crash-power-outages-montgomery-county-96654166ca520a8559b7cf20eb583351?utm_source=Connatix&utm_medium=HomePage

[orangecrush]

1. Glad they're o.k.

Very fortunate to have survived this.

[Wicked Blue]

3. They had orthopedic injuries and hypothermia according to the Washington Post

and were taken to a hospital.

I read that two area hospitals were having problems because of the power outage.

This morning Montgomery County schools were closed along with the county college and parts of county government.

The outage has caused delays on the Metro Red Line as well.

[orangecrush]

10. Thanks

[Wicked Blue]

2. The power outage killed my neighbor

Last edited Mon Nov 28, 2022, 04:39 PM - Edit history (1)

As I posted on an earlier thread:

Our dear across-the-street neighbor turned 90 yesterday.

When the lights went out, another neighbor checked on her and found her unconscious. Her oxygen supply stopped working because there was no power. My husband, the other neighbor and her husband took turns administering CPR while I called 911.

The rescue crew worked on her and found she still had a weak pulse. They took her to a hospital but she did not survive.

That part of the story didn't make the news.

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=xeC3lYILeVQmL3SDVYZmyg

[MissB]

8. Omg

I’m so sorry. I hope she survives.

What a traumatic experience for the four of you.

[Wicked Blue]

9. Unfortunately she died

[twodogsbarking]

4. Good grief, hope they are ok.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Used to be in and out of Gaithersburg a lot

for work training, etc. Had heard about this overnight and the pics show it appeared to be pretty foggy there (it was raining up here in Philly much of the day). I watched over the years as they went through massive development in Rockville and then further north into Gaithersburg. 355 was always under continual construction/widening all the way up from D.C. through Bethesda (as Wisconsin Ave) and Rockville (as Rockville Pike).

Glad they were able to get the passengers out and that didn't come crashing to the ground. Those towers appear to have been pretty tough.

[Wicked Blue]

6. I live right next to Gaithersburg

in Derwood. Probably 3 miles from the plane crash.

In the mid-90s I wrote for the now-long-gone Montgomery Journal. I covered Rockville and sat through meeting after meeting about developing the King Farm. The Kings kept a herd longhorn cattle on that farm. The place was transformed into pricey homes and townhouses.

Now the area around Shady Grove Adventist Hospital is being transformed into numerous life sciences, r&d, genetic research facilities. The old IBM property at Quince Orchard and 355 was also torn down and being built into some kind of medical research place.

And an area near Shady Grove Metro is also being turned into high-priced townhouses. I thought this was not an especially great idea, given that it's located between the county recycling and transfer station, which reeks on hot days, and a county school bus depot.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. I watched as they were jamming a million rental complexes

all up and down Rockville Pike including in lots behind some of the hotels.

Gaithersburg used to be fairly woodsy, even around Shady Grove and Crabbs Branch, but the last time I had passed through there before I retired, I was shocked. That just helped to jam up the traffic even more on 270 (which I tried to avoid anyway before all the construction really started to accelerate).

They are apparently trying to accommodate more and more government contractors too since NIH is there in Bethesda along with the USP building (in Rockville on Twinbrook near Parklawn).