Shortly after 8 a.m. Aug. 9, Maryland State Police from the Leonardtown Barrack responded to the report of a plane crash in a field near the 2300 block of Lawrence Hayden Road in Hollywood.
The airplane, a Piper PA-22-160, single engine fixed wing aircraft, became engulfed in flames after the pilot and passengers were able to escape the wreckage. Fire department personnel from the Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene and extinguished the flames.M
Preliminary information developed by the troopers indicates that shortly after takeoff, the airplane immediately experienced mechanical difficulty. Unable to return back to the airport, the pilot attempted an emergency landing in the open field. The plane did not strike any dwellings or structures on the ground. The pilot and his family were en route back to North Carolina at the time of the crash.
The pilot has been identified as Gerald Nance, Sr.,52, of North Carolina. He and his son, Gerald Nance, Jr., 19, were not injured in the crash. The pilot's mother, Agnes Nance, 85, of Bowie, was transported by Maryland State Police helicopter to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
She later died of her injuries.
Maryland State Police crime scene technicians assisted investigators by processing the crash site. They were assisted by members of the Patuxent Naval Air Station Crash Team.
