BOULDER — Three people died Saturday afternoon in the fiery midair collision of two small planes in the skies north of town, but three others escaped unharmed after the pilot of a glider being towed by one of the aircraft cut loose, maneuvered through a fireball and landed safely.
The glider pilot, identified by a family member as Reuben Bakker, touched down at Boulder Municipal Airport about 3 miles southeast of the crash site with his two passengers, a woman and her 11-year-old son.
Investigators had feared that a thorough examination of the charred wreckage, which was scattered over an area of more than a mile of city open space, would reveal two more victims but later concluded there were no more.
“I was driving into Boulder looking north and saw a big, orange fireball in the air, and then I saw what looked like wings going down,” said Ed Dillon, one of scores of witnesses who saw the immediate aftermath of the collision.
Work was underway Saturday night to positively identify those who died, said Jennifer Rodi of the National Transportation Safety Board, the lead investigator on the crash.
Joan Pallone of Broomfield, who declined to comment when contacted by The Denver Post, told the Duluth (Minn.) News-Tribune that two of the victims were her brother-in-law, Bob Matthews, and his brother, Mark.
“It’s absolutely horrifying,” she told the newspaper.
Dominic Pallone, another family member, posted a message on Twitter.com that described the two as “great, peaceful, kind men with wonderful families.”
According to Federal Aviation Administration records, a Cirrus SR20 — the same model as one of the planes that crashed Saturday — is registered to Robert Matthews of Boulder.
Rodi said a single-seat Piper Pawnee left the Boulder airport towing a Schweitzer 2-32 glider. About 1:30 p.m., a Cirrus SR20, which seats four, collided with the Pawnee in the air on the north edge of the city, near where U.S. 36 and Broadway converge.
The exact sequence of events in the moments of the collision was not clear, Rodi said, given conflicting accounts.
It was an excellent day for flying — scattered clouds, a very light haze and visibility of at least 5 miles.
The crash’s immediate aftermath was witnessed by countless people all over Boulder whose attention was drawn to the sky by a thunderous bang.
“It sounded like somebody throwing a heavy object into an empty metal Dumpster,” said Shano Kelley, who was working in his jewelry studio a quarter-mile away. “It had a deep thud to it.”
He and others described a horrific scene — an overpowering thud, fire in the sky, people jumping from the burning wreckage as the remains of the planes plunged to the ground.
Glider safely lands
In that instant, the glider pilot cut loose from the cable that was towing the craft, flew through flaming debris and headed back to the airport. The woman who was on the glider with her son declined to identify herself when she was approached at the Boulder airport. Composed but grim-faced, she said she felt lucky and was grateful to the pilot who got them back on the ground safely.
As the glider cut loose, the Pawnee and the Cirrus both lurched out of control.
“I saw two fireballs arc away from each other,” said Joshua Berman, a Spanish teacher who was returning from a camp in the mountains with middle school students.
The Pawnee plunged to the ground, crashing in open space northeast of the point where Broadway converges with U.S. 36.
The Cirrus was equipped with an airframe parachute designed to allow the plane to float to the ground in an emergency, and it deployed.
Rodi said it was too early to know whether the collision led the parachute to open or whether someone on the plane activated it.
Sue Patton, 53, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Weller, ran outside just in time to see two people plunge out of the plane. Patton said it appeared to her that they jumped.
“The plane was burning really strong,” she said. “They really didn’t have a choice.”
Patton wasn’t alone.
“We saw a person fly out of the plane,” said Rob Zimmerman, who was with a friend outside American Legion Post 10 at 4760 28th St.
Patton grabbed a phone, called 911 and ran in the direction of the plane, which was spiraling downward with a plume of black smoke billowing from it.
With the parachute deployed, the burning wreckage slowly pirouetted to the ground.
“It was kind of a slow-motion thing,” Patton said. “It was surreal.”
She ran northeast of her property about 200 yards to the plane, which was fully engulfed in flames.
“Mainly, I wanted to see if there was any chance they could survive,” Patton said.
“There were about 30 other people running as fast as they could to the plane. I did not see any motion in there.”
She said she also looked around the mesa for the people she’d seen come out of the plane but couldn’t find anyone.
The Cirrus landed on a hillside, where it burned until there was little left but a blackened hulk. The only recognizable part of the plane was the tail.
“The airplane came straight down,” said Craig Perkins, who was outside the American Legion post. “It was on fire. When it was about 500 to 750 feet off the ground, I saw the guys start to jump.”
West of the crash site, Andy McLandrich and Rachael Britton were hiking the hogback when they heard the crash and turned in time to see the explosion.
“I could hear the engine still spinning, and then I heard it hit the ground with a huge thud,” McLandrich said.
Flying through fireball
Deborah Tjarks, the mother-in-law of the glider pilot, said Bakker saw that a collision was imminent, released the tow line that attached him to the Pawnee and banked but still flew through a fireball.
The Pawnee and the glider were operated by Mile High Gliding.
According to information published on the company’s website, a flight over Boulder in a glider could be had for as little as $99.
Although the glider has only two seats, the NTSB’s Rodi said a child could ride in an adult’s lap in the back seat. And, in fact, information on the Mile High Gliding website said two passengers could ride in the glider if their combined weight was less than 300 pounds.
Rodi said it would be eight to 10 months before the initial investigation is complete and several months beyond that before the NTSB would determine the probable cause of the crash.
“It’s just a matter of going slowly and methodically,” Rodi said.
Kevin Vaughan: 303-954-5019 or kvaughan@denverpost.com
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
Staff writers Heather McWilliams, Annette Espinoza and Daniel Petty and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
