Midair plane crash kills 3 in Colorado
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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 onTwitter .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.
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