DERRICKE DENNIS: This morning, a life or death rescue in Gaithersburg, Maryland, hours in the making. A pilot and passenger brought to safety one by one from a small plane lodged about 100 feet in the air-- into some high tension power lines, slamming nose first into a transmission tower, about 5:30 Sunday evening. - At 12:25, the first patient was coming out of the aircraft and coming down to the ground. The second patient was out and coming down at 12:36. DERRICKE DENNIS: William Smouse lives nearby, and says he initially dismissed the seriousness of the accident until a witness told him what happened. You said you heard-- - I heard a big crash, a big boom, and everything. And so it's unfortunate. DERRICKE DENNIS: The pilot and passenger are able to talk to rescuers. - We are still in regular contact with the folks in the aircraft, so. DERRICKE DENNIS: The single engine plane coming from White Plains, New York was apparently headed to Montgomery County Air Park about a mile away-- the impact knocking out power to some 120,000 customers, and leaving the occupants on board dangling precariously. - We can see the light in the cockpit of the cell phone from the pilot. DERRICKE DENNIS: The rescue operation, a delicate one, involving multiple crews working to secure the plane and ultimately bring it down. But first, power crews had to make sure the powerful electrical current to the wires was shut off. - Which means crews have to go up to the wires themselves to put clamps or cables onto the wires to then ensure that there's no static electricity, no residual power. - The NTSB and the FAA will investigate the crash to determine the cause. As for the pilot and the passenger on board, authorities say they were taken to local hospitals with serious injuries. Derricke Dennis, ABC News, New York.