“We just moved the panels around to give us enough room to escape. I think it’s safer outside.”
His single-engined aircraft tangled in power lines in Montgomery County at about 5:30 pm on Sunday, and he feared the aircraft would become detached from the tower. The plane was already shaking in the wind, he said, and called for help. He and his passenger Janet Williams were getting chills. his nose was bleeding. She had a possible broken rib. Both had head injuries.
“I’m worried about our situation and the possibility of getting out of this tower,” Markle told dispatcher Laurel Mannion, continuing to describe their location and injuries.
Recordings of the 911 calls made shortly after Markle and Williams crashed on Sunday reveal new details of the hours-long ordeal and what may have contributed to the plane crashing into Pepco power lines. Offers. The crash occurred at the Montgomery County Airpark in the Gaithersburg area, about a mile from its destination.
Markle, who reached out by phone on Tuesday, said it was “absolutely a miracle” that he and Williams, 65, were alive. How many of you are worried, please?” he said. (Maryland State Police originally reported a different age than Markle and Williams indicated in his 911 audio.)
Markle was discharged from the hospital on Monday. Williams was scheduled to leave the hospital on Tuesday, Markle said.
The cause of the crash has not been determined. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation, said the investigation was ongoing and that the aircraft would be moved to a facility for analysis on Tuesday.Updates on the crash are not expected for weeks. , agency spokeswoman Sarah Slick said on Tuesday.
The weather in Washington State at the time of the crash was foggy and rainy, but it was not clear whether those conditions contributed to the crash.
Markle said Tuesday he was waiting for an interview with the NTSB and declined to comment further, citing an ongoing investigation. But the 911 records provide clues as to what went wrong.
“What exactly happened before the crash? Was it a vision problem?” Mannion asked the pilots, trying to calm them down.
“Yes, full visibility…” he said. “We were looking for the airport.
The crash forced rescuers to make a complex overnight effort to get the pair and the aircraft safely to the ground. The crash caused widespread power outages, prompted county school districts to cancel classes, and revived safety concerns around a local airport that has seen at least 30 crashes nearby in the past 40 years. did.
Paramedics responding to the 911 call (including Markle, who was in the pilot’s seat) had a difficult time in the darkness of a foggy night. The plane was caught between high voltage wires after making contact with two power line pylons. The wind picked up and the plane got so high that the standard ladder was out of reach.
On the plane, the two were growing anxious.
“Hurry up,” Williams pleaded less than an hour after the crash. “I’m getting really worried. The plane is definitely moving out of the wind. So whatever they’re trying to do, it needs to start.”
Markle was worried about how long it would take for rescuers to arrive. “It looks like it will be a long time before they get here. ”
At the 911 dispatch center, Mannion reassured them that the rescue team was working on a plan. She said she wouldn’t hang up until paramedics got to them. As the pair discussed holding onto the tower, she warned of live power lines.
Her biggest concern, she said, was that she might “get electrocuted.” She asked them to “stay on the plane and stay still,” adding that paramedics were “working on a plan.”
In an interview, Mannion, 22, said he called regularly. After her shift started at 3:00 p.m., she received a call from a witness on the ground reporting a plane crash.
“Then I got on the phone again and sure enough it was the pilot,” Mannion said. She was on the phone with them for about an hour and a half before her communications were throttled to preserve her phone’s battery life.
When Markle and Williams tell her they want to get out, she calls firefighters for help and finds out that the tower is electrified. Mannion said he reassured Markle and Williams that the safest place was on the plane. The pair then pointed out to Manion that even if they tried to save themselves, they had nowhere to stand in the tower.
The crew had to stabilize the aircraft on the tower before attempting a rescue. The utility crew had to cut power to the line. Seven hours later, responders used two boom crane trucks to retrieve the pair, and the plane was lowered to the ground around 3:30 a.m. Monday, ten hours after the crash.
“They were very calm,” Mannion said. Said. “If I were in their position, I don’t know how calm I would have been. And that’s what I was trying to think about the whole time I was trying to reassure them.
Dan Morse contributed to this report.
