Small plane crash shuts down major highway near D.C., 4 treated for injuries
A plane’s pilot and passenger were seen standing in the median of a highway in Bowie, Maryland, on Thursday after surviving a crash shortly before noon.
“I'm blessed that we're not hurt. I'm still overloaded and we're still running on adrenaline so we're doing okay,” pilot Julius Tolson, 58, told ABC News Washington D.C. affiliate WJLA.
As the plane went down, its wing slammed into the roof of a car carrying two other men, who suffered minor injuries, according to Maryland State Police.
“Police were on the scene very quickly,” Tolson said.
“[The two men injured in the car] were taken away pretty quickly and so we're happy to hear that they weren't hurt seriously or anything like that,” Michael Garrah, 57, the plane’s passenger, told WJLA.
The pilot and passenger were treated at the scene, and the crash caused lane closures along U.S. Route 50, police said.
Tolson and Garrah told WJLA they were taking off just east of Washington D.C. when they had an instrumentation problem and decided to abort.
Maryland State Police believe the pilot misjudged the landing prior to the crash.
“We could've got hit by a tractor trailer…the way that the plane spun,” Garrah said. “I think it absorbed a lot of the energy. So I think we're obviously really lucky.”
Federal Aviation Administration officials said they were investigating the accident.
