Three people were killed late Saturday night when a single-engine plane went down in a wooded strip next to a Bowie townhome community, narrowly missing a playground and nearby homes.
Maryland State Police told WTOP the aircraft, a Piper Cherokee, went down around 11:30 p.m. The plane was carrying a pilot and two passengers, and all three were pronounced dead at the scene. According to the agency, the flight had departed Ocean City, New Jersey, and was headed to Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg.
Where It Went Down
Emergency crews located the wreckage around 3:45 a.m. in a small, fenced woodland behind a playground off Scarlet Oak Court. Debris was scattered over roughly 100 feet, with the crash site sitting just beyond a row of townhomes, neighbors told The Banner. Several residents said they were jolted awake by a loud boom overnight.
Investigation Underway
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have opened an investigation into the crash. The NTSB sent an investigator to the scene, the agency said in a statement reported by WTOP. Investigators are expected to review the aircraft's maintenance records, the pilot's flight history, and air-traffic and radar data as they work to determine what went wrong.
Neighbors and Pilots Respond
Local pilots and aviation enthusiasts said they used live flight-tracking tools to trace the plane's likely final path and went searching before official crews found the wreckage, according to The Banner. One nearby resident told the outlet, "I saw the wing before I went to bed, but I didn't know it was a wing at the time."
Authorities have not yet released the victims' names, pending notification of family members. Police are asking anyone who may have information or relevant footage to contact Prince George's County detectives as the NTSB continues its on-scene work.
