Calls started flooding into Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center Sunday evening about a small plane that struck a transmission tower. But one garnered more attention than the others.
"I’ve flown into a tower to the northwest of Gaithersburg Airport it’s one of the, uh, 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 and I don’t know…" Patrick Merkle, the pilot, told the dispatcher, WUSA9 reported.
While 911 Technician Laurel Manion asked Merkle to assess the situation, he said he was concerned about his passenger, Jan Williams.
"If they can get a, uh, ladder truck up here – I don’t know if they can reach this high, I don’t know..."
Manion leaned on her training to keep them calm.
“I know that when we had, talked through wanting to get out, them wanting to get while they were still in the plane and it first started to shift due to the wind picking up, he had told me, I don’t think there’s even enough room for me to stand on this tower even if I do get out,” Manion told NBC4. “So, from there we just said the best thing to do was to remain as still as possible and just wait until we could get up to them."
She continued telling them that firefighters and Pepco officials were concocting a rescue plan, one that involved cutting the power, securing the plane to the tower, making sure there wasn't the possibility of static electricity and gaining access to the souls aboard.
"Well, that’s fine," Merkle responded. "I’m just concerned about articulation and the possibility that we could slip out of this tower and go tail-first to the ground and that would not be a survivable distance."
After talking with Merkle for about 90 minutes, another dispatcher took over the communications. And, even though she wasn't on the line, she kept tabs on them.
Seven hours after they hit the tower, Merkle and Williams climbed out of the plane and into a bucket.
"They are fortunate to survive. They were anxious. They were concerned about the stability of the aircraft… remaining in the tower structure.” Montgomery Fire Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein told reporters at a press conference Monday.
Manion also was relieved.
“I just want to say that I’m really, really glad that both of the pilot and the passenger made it out safely. That was the ultimate goal, and I hope you guys are doing good. I wish you good health.”
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