Patrick Merkle of D.C. has been flying for more than 30 years. And on Sunday night, he had hoped to conclude a day trip to New York with a friend at the Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg.
But a few miles before the airport, Merkle鈥檚 plane crashed into a power transmission tower and left him and passenger Jan Williams injured and trapped 100 feet above the ground.
鈥淔or the first couple hours, I wasn’t sure that hanging on that tower was going to work, I was very concerned that we might be sliding off the tower and to our deaths, actually,鈥� Merkle told 草莓传媒.
Shortly after the crash, Merkle said he knocked out the plane鈥檚 front window and removed its dashboard, so that if the plane started to fall, they could try to get out. He also kept his hand out the window and on the tower for a time, he said, with the hope that he could sense any movement of the plane early enough if they needed to escape.
鈥淭he longer we were in the air, the more confident I became of the way we had been attached to the trellis, if you will, the frame of the transmission tower,鈥� Merkle said.
Both he and his passenger also called 911 and dispatchers. And later, first responders on the ground kept them updated on rescue efforts.
To get to Merkle and Williams, a rescue operation like no other had to take place, which included Pepco de-energizing the transmission lines and rescuers loading onto cranes to get close enough to the plane to get them out.
The plane had struck two transmission towers, including one to the north of the final crash site, and the first impact caused live high voltage wires to be severed. Merkle said it’s a miracle that the plane hit those lines in a way that didn鈥檛 ignite the plane.
鈥淚f we had touched live wires with the wings, we would have short-circuited 40,000 volts and had an explosive eruption of the fuel tanks,鈥� Merkle said.
After being stuck in the plane for close to seven hours, both Merkle and Williams were rescued. Among Merkle’s injuries were a gash on his forehead and hairline fracture to his nose. He said he also lost 2 pints of blood from his head wound.
According to Merkle, Williams had several broken ribs as well as a forehead injury that required stitches.
The crash happened, Merkle said, when they flew through clouds and were too low on the approach to the airport. He said he was using the plane鈥檚 instrument landing system, something he鈥檚 done before in both practice and real life.
He credits the aircraft’s construction for his survival, too. Because despite the damage, the doors of the plane still opened. He likened the frame of the Mooney M20J to that of a NASCAR racing car.
‘Miraculous placement of aircraft’
鈥淭hat has a lot to do with why we’re surviving this crash. I mean that and the miraculous placement of aircraft in the transmission tower,鈥� Merkle said.
As an aviation enthusiast, Merkle said, he works a lot to build interest in flying, especially among kids, and he has helped many Boy Scouts get their aviation merit badge. His concern is what happened to him may negatively impact people鈥檚 view of flying small planes at a time when he said airports are struggling to stay open with too few pilots using them.
鈥淚 feel very badly about having cast that unfair, you know, aspersion on general aviation when it’s just not true,鈥� Merkle said.
This is Merkle鈥檚 second crash as a pilot; his first happened in Utah 30 years ago. He said he waited 10 years to fly again after that crash. He hopes to fly again after this crash as well, though the FAA must approve his return to flight.
Merkle said he is telling his story, for one big reason: To say thank you to first responders, those who got them out of the plane, and second responders, who he said were the medical teams who helped them once they were on the ground. Also, he said, they are thankful for the people he called “third responders,” the thousands of people who went without power during their rescue.
鈥淲e are eternally grateful for the sacrifices everybody made coming out on the last night of the holiday weekend to rescue us having their power shut down for I don’t even know how long,鈥� Merkle said.
How the response began
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On Sunday evening, Lt. Logan McGrane of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue in Maryland, reported a power outage at his firehouse in Aspen Hill to his chief. Generally, those are caused by simple things, such as a transformer blowing up around the corner. But the chief told McGrane that he wasn’t alone — power was out for miles around.
When the board of active calls showed a plane had crashed into a power transmission tower in Gaithersburg — about 10 miles away — he had an idea what he was up against.
鈥淭he call popped up and we鈥檙e like 鈥榓hh,鈥欌�� he said with a laugh.
McGrane coordinated the stabilization process and rescue efforts Sunday evening, and he can laugh about it now. Seven hours of prep, and countless training sessions before that, led to an ending that鈥檚 about as happy as you can expect.
He and other fire officials recounted their efforts at a news briefing on Wednesday.
‘Everything is dark on the way there’
McGrane and his crew headed out for the call — 鈥渆verything is dark on the way there because all the power is out,” he remembered. 鈥淎s we were approaching, the high tension power lines have just that unique cut straight down the line. So we鈥檙e coming down one of the roads and I look to the left down the power lines and you could see the plane stuck up in there.鈥�
Lt. John Lann eventually helped get Merkle and Williams, both 66 years old, out of the plane. When he arrived on the scene, 鈥淭he plane was actually moving, and then the pilot was trying to climb out the window.鈥�
As time went on, he said, it became apparent the plane wasn鈥檛 going to fall. But even with the power out almost all over the county, the firefighters were warned that the power lines still had enough residual static electricity that touching them could be fatal.
That stayed on Lann鈥檚 mind when he got into the bucket and rode up to the plane: 鈥淲hen the experts tell me that it鈥檚 there then I have to believe what they say.鈥�
Eventually, he said, all the power was removed from the line. “I鈥檓 not going to lie though: When we were going up and the power line was a foot from my head, I was ducking,” Lann said. “I didn鈥檛 want to find out.鈥�
The way the plane hit the tower was a lucky break, with one of the wings and the plane鈥檚 engine helping to wedge the aircraft in.
That involved using the firefighters’ expertise in stabilizing things, Pepco鈥檚 expertise in the towers and doing what they could to make sure the plane stayed stable. 鈥淲e ended up anchoring the plane with some heavy rigging to the tower,鈥� McGrane said, adding that it was sort of like keeping a four-legged table stabilized when only two of the legs were sound.
鈥淵ou hope for the best,鈥� said McGrane. 鈥淵ou know the equipment is rated for however much it鈥檚 rated for.”
No one specifically makes anchoring-a-plane-to-a-transmission-tower cable. There was no real way of testing the stability of everything that high up. Everyone had to trust their training, and there was no margin of error, the firefighters said.
鈥淲e were pretty confident,鈥� McGrane added. 鈥淚 was confident enough to put my guys up near that plane.鈥�
‘Just stay where you’re at’
Once the plane was secured, firefighters had to get Williams and Merkle out. When Lann and Master Firefighter Luke Marlowe got up to the plane, they said, it was clear that Williams鈥� injuries were significant enough that she had to go out first, and by herself, because of the cramped nature of the bucket.
鈥淲e removed the lady first and he was trying to come out right behind her,鈥� Lann said. 鈥淚 was like 鈥楯ust stay where you鈥檙e at.鈥� I actually ended up closing the door to the fuselage, to the cockpit, and there was another bucket up there, and I had them move in closer so he couldn鈥檛 open it back up and try to come out.鈥�
Otherwise, the conversation was pretty minimal — Marlowe described it as small talk more than anything. But he said that was actually encouraging.
鈥淪urprisingly they were pretty calm and pretty alert,鈥� Marlowe said. 鈥淭hat was a great sign for us. We were able to get them out a lot easier [since] they were able to communicate and work with us.鈥�
How it all happened isn鈥檛 something they got too deep into. Instead, it was all about getting out of it.
鈥淲e train for all types of different incidents,鈥� Lann said. 鈥淚f you think about the grand scale of this, it was a high-angle rescue; that鈥檚 one part of it. It was a stabilizing a piece; that鈥檚 another part of it, just — it was higher in the air. If you just break those components down into their simplest form, you can get through it and not let it overwhelm you.鈥�
They had four plans, but the first one worked out successfully. 鈥淲e brought a lot of different aspects of what we do all into one, and it worked out well,鈥� said Lann.
“I didn鈥檛 think it鈥檇 actually be up that high,” Marlowe said, but being 100 feet off the ground was never really a concern for him.
鈥淚 looked down a little bit, but it was so foggy that night,鈥� he recounted. 鈥淭hey said there were TV crews and a crowd to the right of us, but I couldn鈥檛 even see them because it was so foggy up there.”
鈥淚t kind of helped in its own way. I didn鈥檛 have to look down, but we felt secure,鈥� said Marlowe, who added he isn鈥檛 scared of heights. 鈥淲e train for this.鈥�
