WASHINGTON — Nearly a year after a devastating plane crash in Gaithersburg, Maryland, residents who live around the crash site are still waiting to hear exactly what happened.
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash of a small plane into a house near the Montgomery County Airpark on Dec. 8 of last year. Six people were killed.
“The transportation safety board has to investigate and make a report, and that usually takes about a year regardless of what the crash is,” says Howard Layer, chairman of the Montgomery County Airpark Liaison Committee.
Layer’s panel comprises individuals, groups and officials who focus on airpark issues.
Members of the community have previously called on Montgomery County to consider changes at the small airport, including limits on the number of practice flights pilots are allowed to take and reducing the hours of airpark operations.
Currently the airpark is open 24 hours a day.
“Nothing has happened,” Layer says, describing the county’s response.
Montgomery County leaders plan to hold a public meeting next week to address some of the concerns being raised by the community. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4 at the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission Training Room, on 16641 Crabbs Branch Way in Rockville.
“The county has been quiet except in the last several months as they tried to get this meeting together to find out what the issues are,” Layer says.
