Snooze says they got em down ...
Yup.
*snip*
Maryland State Police identified the occupants of the plane as pilot Patrick Merkle, 65, of Washington, D.C., and passenger Jan Williams, 66, of Louisiana. The two were rescued roughly seven hours later, with Williams being brought down from the plane first, followed shortly after by Merkle.
Both were taken to local hospitals with "serious injuries," and hypothermia was also a concern, Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said. Another official from Montgomery County Fire and Rescue said the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.
Goldstein told reporters shortly after 9 p.m. that crews had been working to make the situation safe to carry out a rescue operation.
"While there is a large area of power outage in Montgomery County, there is no other way to determine if it is safe to access the tower until it is grounded or bonded which means crews have to go up to the wires to put clamps or cables onto the wires to ensure there is no static electricity, no residual power," Goldstein said.
Following the rescue, Goldstein said the grounding was completed at 11:30 p.m. At midnight, crews began working to secure the plane to the tower, and that work was completed about 15 minutes later. The first person from the plane was brought down at 12:25, and the second person came down about 10 minutes later, Goldstein said.
He said officials were able to contact the occupants by cellphone, and had been checking in on them periodically.
The crash led to "widespread power outages" and road closures nearby, officials said. Regional power company Pepco said the crash had affected approximately 85,000 customers, but before 2 a.m. Eastern time the company said it had "restored electric service for all customers who were impacted."
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The pilot and a passenger were both rescued about seven hours after the crash with "serious injuries," and Pepco said electricity was restored.
www.cbsnews.com
