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Six killed when plane crashes into house in Gaithersburg Six killed when plane crashes into house in Gaithersburg
(about 3 hours later)
Six people were killed when a plane crashed into a house in Montgomery County on Monday morning, authorities said. At a few minutes before 11 a.m. the day was well underway for a young mother, her infant son and his toddler brother when a twin-engine jet, on its final approach to a corporate airport of Gaithersburg, crashed into their morning.
Three people aboard the plane and three people inside the house were killed in the crash, according to a tweet from the Montgomery County fire department. The incident occurred about a mile northwest of the Montgomery County Airpark. The plane caromed into two homes before its wing tumbled into 19733 Drop Forge Lane, erupting into a fireball. The pilot, two passengers, the mother and her children were killed.
( Air traffic control audio: ‘There’s nothing left’ of this house ) As people rushed from their homes, Marie Gemmell, 36, had been in a desperate fight to save 3-year-old Cole and 6-week-old Devon. She rushed them into a windowless bathroom on the second floor.
At an afternoon news conference, police said that the victims inside the house were an adult woman, Marie Gemmell, 36, and her two sons, 3-year-old Cole Gemmell and Devon Gemmell, an infant. They were found together on the second floor of the house. “It appears the mother was trying to protect her children. It appears she was covering them to try to protect them,” said Montgomery fire spokesman Pete Piringer.
“She tried to save these kids,” Police Chief Thomas Manger  said. “She had nowhere to go. She couldn’t get out of the bathroom. One kid was between her legs, and the other was in her arms.” “She tried to save these kids,” Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said of the mother of three, who friends said was on maternity from her job at a bank.
Police initially provided only their last names. Earlier in the day, authorities said that five people lived in the house at 19733 Drop Forge Lane, and that a father and one child were outside the home and accounted for. “She had nowhere to go,” he added. “She couldn’t get out of the bathroom. One kid was between her legs, and the other was in her arms.”
Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Department, said that the three victims aboard the plane were found dead at the scene and were not transported to a hospital. With in seconds of the crash, another pilot looked down in horror.
It took emergency personnel until almost 4:30 p.m. to confirm that three people in the house had also been killed. “There’s nothing left of that house down there,” he said.
(Video: Police say death toll climbs to six) The black Honda SUV parked snug against the garage door indicated that there probably were people inside the house, and neighbors rushed around the outside, looking for an opening in the flames through which they might dart in.
Just before 4 p.m., Montgomery County Fire Chief Steven E. Lohr said crews had not found any bodies in the sections of the home that they had been able to get to. Firefighters could be seen walking on the second floor of the house near the heavily damaged portion. The plane lay on the front lawn in pieces, as though “it just fell apart,” Jocelyn Brown, 21, said.
Two other homes were also damaged in the crash. National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said at a news conference Monday afternoon that the plane cut a narrow gash through the roof of one house, slicing into what appeared to be a bedroom. Much of the plane came to rest against a second house. A wing, which contained fuel, catapulted into the third house, where the fire started and the three victims died. “It’s like somebody took the screws out,” she said.
Police said that the cause of death for the victims in the house may have been smoke inhalation but that it remained under investigation. With a flight data recorder in hand, National Transportation Safety Board investigators should quickly determine what caused the crash, although their methodical process may not reveal the telling details for several months.
The crash occurred in a cul-de-sac near Snouffer School Road in Gaithersburg. Just after 11 a.m., a Montgomery fire department official said in a Twitter message that several houses were damaged and that firefighters were involved in a “search, rescue & firefight.” What would become tragedy on Drop Forge Lane began to unfold hours earlier, when a small jet plane — Embraer EMB-500/Phenom 100 — set out from North Carolina to carry three members of the medical research firm Health Decisions to an important meeting with the Food and Drug Administration in Montgomery County.
Lohr said the initial call came in from a National Guard armory across the street as a report of an explosion and building fire, and authorities found that it was a plane that had crashed into the houses. He said fire crews were on the scene within seven minutes of the initial call. Before Michael Rosenberg set out to fly to Maryland, he called his company’s technology department to sort out a Web site issue.
Neighbors in the area said a family lived in the house, including young children who often played outside. They said the family was known to be friendly and hosted neighborhood get-togethers. “He sounded great,” said Rafe Taylor. “It was just standard tech support stuff. A minor issue, really.”
“I’m sad, so sad,” said Marlon Cienfuegos, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 15 years. “You don’t want this to ever happen, and this time of year — it’s terrible.” Even though he was a veteran pilot — he was certified to fly commercial planes and to teach novice pilots — it was the second time that Rosenberg had crashed while landing at the Montgomery County Airpark. In March 2010, he suffered minor injuries when he crashed a Socata TBM 700, a turbo-propeller plane. He had been heading from North Carolina on that trip, too.
(Plane crash in Gaithersburg causes road closures) On Monday, his voice sounded matter-of-fact as he talked with air traffic controllers — using his call sign, 100 Echo Quebec — while approaching Runway 14 at the airpark.
Jim Siron, 56, who is another neighbor and lives several houses down, said two adults and three children lived in the home hit by the plane. “They are a nice family,” he said. “Montgomery traffic, 100 Echo Quebec is now 7 miles” from landing.
He said he was working in his home this morning when he heard an explosion. He heard a boom and said: “My house shook.” “Montgomery traffic, 100 Echo Quebec is now 6,000 [feet], straight” toward the runway.
Dianne Gayle, who also lives on the street, said she was working Monday morning at her home, heard a plane overhead and at first thought it wasn’t a big deal. Then, she said, she heard a boom and saw flames. She said she called 911 immediately and recalled saying to the dispatcher: “The house is on fire! The house is on fire! A plane crashed into the house! A plane crashed into the house!” “Montgomery traffic, 100 Echo Quebec is 3 [miles] out, straight in [toward] 1-4”
“It’s just heartbreaking, ” she added. Then came a call from another pilot who saw what happened:
Authorities said the plane was preliminarily identified as a private jet owned by an aviation company based in Chapel Hill, N.C. It reportedly had turned on final approach to land at the nearby airpark, just behind a Cessna 172 propeller-driven plane. “We got a Phenom [jet] crash at the end of the runway.”
The jet was a twin-engine Embraer EMB-500/Phenom 100, which can carry four to six passengers. The incident was reported about 11 a.m. The Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB will investigate. The airport is an uncontrolled runway, which means that, as opposed to larger airports, there is no air traffic control tower directing final approaches. The county-owned airport opened in 1959 to relieve aviation traffic into what is now known as Reagan National Airport. Since the emergence of Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport and Dulles International Airport, the facility in Gaithersburg has transformed into one used by small planes and business travelers.
The airpark is an uncontrolled runway, which means that, as opposed to larger airports, there is no air traffic control tower directing final approach. The county-owned airport opened in 1959 to relieve aviation traffic into what is now known as Reagan National Airport. Since the emergence of Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport and Dulles International Airport, the facility in Gaithersburg has transformed into one used by small planes and business travelers.
The airport has about 100,000 annual departures and arrivals and is the fourth-busiest general aviation airport in Maryland.The airport has about 100,000 annual departures and arrivals and is the fourth-busiest general aviation airport in Maryland.
There have been two aircraft accidents at the Gaithersburg airport this year. On Sept. 13, a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Cessna nosed over after landing. The pilot and two passengers were not injured. Three weeks earlier, the pilot of a Piper plane was seriously injured when he made a forced landing after his engine failed. There have been 12 crashes at Gaithersburg since 1996, none of them fatal. There have been two aircraft accidents at the Gaithersburg airport this year. On Sept. 13, a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Cessna nosed over after landing. The pilot and two passengers were not injured. Three weeks earlier, the pilot of a Piper plane was seriously injured when he made a forced landing after his engine failed. There have been 12 crashes at the airpark since 1996, none of them fatal.
“My heart goes out to the Gemmell family,”  said County Executive Isiah Leggett,  adding that the county will look at the crash and the airport’s operations  “We are looking very carefully.” On the morning of the crash,Tracy Everett said he was driving his work truck when he looked up and saw that the plane was “unsteady” and in trouble.
Byron Valencia, 31, who lives about a half-mile from the crash site, said he heard a thump and ran upstairs to check on his 2-month-old son. Valencia said at the time that he was in his kitchen making a bottle for the baby. “It was wobbly,” Everett said. “It was 100 to 200 above the trees.”
“I heard the plane come over the house,” he said. “This one sounded like a jet, and then I heard a thump. It was pretty loud. I didn’t see anything but then I heard the sirens.” He said he then listened to his police scanner and heard of the crash. He said the plane then did a rolling dive to the left, and then “I saw smoke.”
“It’s a little nerve wracking,” he said of airplanes coming into the nearby airport in Gaithersburg. “They make you nervous because you never know when something can happen, and sure enough, something did happen.”
Tracy Everett said he was driving his work truck when he looked up and saw that the plane was “unsteady” and in trouble.
“It was wobbly,” Everett said. “It was 100 to 200 above the trees.” He said the plane then did a rolling dive to the left, and then “I saw smoke.”
He said he drove to the scene and “saw and heard a secondary explosion. It was so powerful you could feel it under your feet.”He said he drove to the scene and “saw and heard a secondary explosion. It was so powerful you could feel it under your feet.”
Jocelyn Brown, 21, lives one street over from the crash site and said she heard the plane hit while inside her house. Dianne Gayle, who lives on the street, said she heard a plane overhead and then heard a boom and saw flames. She said she called 911. “The house is on fire! The house is on fire!” she said she told the dispatcher. “A plane crashed into the house! A plane crashed into the house!”
She ran over to the crash site and said the plane looked like “it just fell apart.” Byron Valencia, 31, who lives about a half-mile from the crash site, said he was in his kitchen preparing a bottle for his 2-month-old son.
“It’s like somebody took the screws out,” she said, the house right behind her still smoldering. “I heard the plane come over the house,” he said. “This one sounded like a jet, and then I heard a thump. It was pretty loud. I didn’t see anything, but then I heard the sirens.”
Miriam Arevalo, who lives with her husband and two children a block away from the crash, said she was home waiting for her ride to work when she heard a big boom. Miriam Arevalo, who lives with her husband and two children a block from the crash, was home waiting for a ride to work when she heard a big boom.
“I heard a big explosion. It’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before,” she said. “I immediately thought, ‘Oh my God, it is a plane.’ ”“I heard a big explosion. It’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before,” she said. “I immediately thought, ‘Oh my God, it is a plane.’ ”
Arevalo moved to the area eight years ago, and said residents live in fear of something like this happening. At the FDA offices, James Higgins, executive vice president of Health Decisions waited anxiously for Rosenberg and his two other colleagues to arrive. Instead, he got word of the crash.
“We hear the rumbling in the skies every day,” Arevalo said. “Planes always fly low. It could have hit any of the homes in the neighborhood.” “He’s in shock,” said Barbara Higgins, his wife, “and he’s also trying to figure out what they’re going to do on their end.”
Staff writers Ashley Halsey III, Luz Lazo, Mike Rosenwald and Julie Zauzmer and researcher Alice Crites contributed to this report. The Gemmells have one other child, a girl, who was at school at the time of the crash. Neighbors said Ken and Marie Gemmell had lived in the house for about seven years and were known to dote on their children, who often were seen playing in the front yard. Ken Gemmell had left the house a few hours before the crash. After rushing back, he was led to the home, knowing his wife and children had not emerged. As the house still was in flames, he stood in front of it, staring blankly for 10 minutes before being led away.
Montgomery Fire Chief Steve Lohr spoke quietly to him.
“We’re doing everything we can to determine the location of your family,” Lohr told him.
Late Monday, Ken Gemmell had changed his Facebook profile photo to one of his wife, Devon and Cole. Another photo showed him and his wife at a festive occasion. Several friends had posted notes of condolence.
A former colleague of Marie Gemmell, who worked at Davis Construction for a dozen years before taking a job several months ago at a bank, mourned her loss.
“She’s really going to be missed,” Brian Polesnak said of his friend, whose Facebook page said she was a native of New Jersey. “She always loved her family, loved her kids. She always had a smile or a joke.”
Polesnak is marrying his girlfriend Saturday and said he had wanted Gemmell to be there.
Alice Crites, Dana Hedgpeth, Luz Lazo, Miles Parks, Mike Rosenwald and Julie Zauzmer contributed to this report.
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