A small single engine aircraft crashed in a wooded area in Bowie, Maryland, late on Saturday night, and all three people on board were killed, officials said at a news conference. According to the preliminary account, the plane went down at about 11:30 p.m., with the wreckage coming to rest among trees in close proximity to a residential area off Scarlet Oak Court. Authorities described the loss as a developing investigation and stressed that many details were still being established.
Investigators said the aircraft involved was a single engine Piper Cherokee, carrying a single pilot and two passengers at the time of the crash. The plane was en route from Ocean City, New Jersey to Montgomery County Air Park when it came down for reasons that were not yet known. Officials said they believed the plane belonged to a local flight school in Montgomery County and was possibly taking part in a training flight.
The three occupants, all of them adults, were declared deceased at the scene by emergency medical personnel. Authorities said the identities of those who died were being withheld pending notification of their next of kin. Officials did not release any further personal details, citing the early stage of the process and the need to reach the families first.
According to the timeline given by officials, an iPhone crash alert was received by Prince George's County public safety communications at about 11:53 p.m. on the night of the crash. The automated alert, which can notify emergency contacts of a fall or impact, was part of what pointed responders toward the area. The aircraft itself was located at approximately 3:45 a.m. in the wooded area near the residential neighborhood.
A large multi agency response was deployed to the scene through the night and into the early morning. Officials said the agencies involved included the Maryland State Police from the College Park Barrack and its Special Operations Division, Anne Arundel County Police and Aviation, the Bowie City Police Department, and the Prince George's County Police Department, alongside the county fire department.
Officials from several of those agencies appeared at the briefing to outline what was known. Among them were Sergeant Greg Lance of the Maryland State Police Special Operations Division, Corporal Zach Null of the Criminal Enforcement Division, Assistant Fire Chief John Bender of the Prince George's County Fire Department, and Deputy Chief Robert Liberati of the Bowie City Police Department, who was joined by Bowie City Mayor Mike Esteve.
Officials said the investigation into the crash would be led by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. They said it was not yet known what happened during the flight between Ocean City and Bowie, whether any mechanical issue had occurred, or whether weather conditions had played a role. Questions about why a training flight would be operating that late at night were also described as part of the ongoing inquiry.