Pilot calls 911 from cockpit of plane after crashing into power line tower

Published November 30, 2022 7:06 PM

By WBAL Staff

MONTGOMERY VILLAGE, Maryland (WBAL) — The pilot of a small plane that crashed Sunday into a power line tower managed to stay very calm during his call to 911.

“I’ve flown into a tower to the northwest of Gaithersburg airport. It’s one of the electrical towers. And, believe it or not, the aircraft is pinned in the tower, and I don’t know how long we’re going to be able to stay here,” said the pilot, identified as Patrick Merkle.

Low altitude and low visibility contributed to the crash in Montgomery County.

Once the power lines were grounded and bonded and the plane was secured to the tower, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue teams managed to pull Merkle and his passenger from the plane after they were stuck inside for seven hours. Both survived.

Archived recordings show air traffic controllers warned Merkle he was flying too low moments before the crash. At the time, he was trying to land at the Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, which is about 4 miles southeast of the crash site.

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