International lead. Moments before a private aeroplane crashed into power lines in Maryland last night, air traffic controllers urgently warned the pilot that in their view, he was flying too low. It took rescue crews 8 hours to save the pilot and the passenger.
And as CNN's Pete Monte reports, power was out for tens of thousands of citizens of Maryland as the delicate mission played out. Firefighters are calling it a high stakes rescue from high voltage power lines.
Two people on board this private aeroplane survived this crash, only to remain trapped 100ft up as crews de-energize the wires. This is a challenging event, of course, it's like a car crash up in the air.
The crash caused power outages for 1200 people in the blink of an eye. I saw like two big flashes and I thought, oh, it's just lightning. But the rescue of the pilot and passenger took hour after hour. Pepco power crews along with firefighters from Maryland and DC, responded to the scene reassuring the pilot and passenger over the phone.
They were anxious. They were concerned about the stability of the aircraft, the stability of the aircraft remaining in the tower structure. The pilot and passenger were carefully loaded into a specialised 178 foot cherry picker, then lowered to the ground.
The 65 year old man and 66 year old woman were rushed to a hospital with hypothermia. The crash took place in the dark, only a mile from the flight's destination, the Montgomery County Airport. The single engine mooney apparently aligned for landing on the southeast facing runway.
But moments before the crash, air traffic controllers warned the pilot that he was getting too low. Low altitude Alerts. The weather at the time of the crash was reported. As to low clouds and bad visibility, just one of the factors the National Transportation Safety Board will be considering as they start there.
Investigation. So I'm just really happy that this hasn't been a tragedy. Ask yourself what it would be like in a car to hit a wall at 80 to 100 miles an hour. I'd say pretty lucky. We are just learning from firefighters that one of the survivors of this crash has now been released from the hospital.
Firefighters also point out one extra piece of luck here. The plane first sliced through the power lines and then hit that transmission tower. They're saying it is incredible, Jake, that nobody here was electrocuted.
All right, Pete Monte in Gaithersburg, Maryland, thanks so much to you for that.