5 dead in mid-air collision over Boulder, CO today

[DenverWarbirdFan]

Sad story...Cirrus hits a tow plane pulling a glider.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx? ... &catid=222

[corsair166b]

Ahhh, crap....Bill Greenwood, you out there??!!

Mark

[Bill Greenwood]

Yes, Mark I am here and saw the tv report and the video of the Cirrus descending under the parachute and on fire.
It is an erie coincidence that about the time this happened I had just finished reading the story evaulating the Cirrus SR 20 that is in the latest issue of Aviation Consumer.

The tow plane is a Pawnee, one of the ones that I fly behind when I rent from that glilder company at Boulder.

A real shame.

[flyboyj]

Local news now saying 3 perished - 2 in the Cirrus and one in the tow plane. I know folks who tow at Boulder, this sucks...

[CAPFlyer]

Crap, that Pawnee was the one that towed me for my first (and so far only) glider ride in what was then the CAP Colorado Wing's brand-new ASK.

Sorry to hear of the losses.

[Bill Greenwood]

Well, there is no good news, but at least a little less bad news. There were only two, not four in the Cirrus,so a total of 3 not 5.
The young man flying the tow plane, I believe, was a nice guy, I had talked with him a few times. The Cirrus SR-20 was flown by a local man with his Brother. The parachute in the Cirrus worked as designed and lowered the plane, but it was on fire.
The glider is a Schweizer, , 2-32. It is an older all metal design, and is popular with glider operations that do rides because it is 3 place. The pilot is in the seat in front and the rear seat is wide enough that it can hold two passengers. It is very sturdy, approved for aerobatics and nice looking. Mile High has two and the local Soaring Society has one also, I believe.
They were about 8500 feet, about 3200 above the ground when this happened. The glider was doing a birthday ride for a lady and her 11 year old Son, and once they released from the tow rope they made a normal landing back at Boulder.

[sdennison]

Any observations by the glider pilot? This is a CTAF airfield?

[ChrisDNT]

I knew an old flight instructor who thaught basic flying in his Piper Cub from 25 to 70 years old ; when he finally retired, he had something like 15'000 flight hours. He never flew once in his aircraft without a parachute. He simply used to say "look (showing his hands), these are hands, no wings". Much clever to always keep a second option available, when it matters vital questions.

[Bill Greenwood]

Sdenison, Bouder has a unicom, not a control tower. The tow planes have radios and they use them as they takeoff and enter the pattern to land. The planes in this accident were not in the airport pattern, they were a few miles away to the northwest. The Denver paper today says that it is belived the Cirrus had been up for a local flight and was descending, don't know if he was coming to land or just passing. He was still 2000 ' above and a mile or so northwest of where you would enter the pattern. I have not read an official statement by the glider pilot, one source quotes that he did not see the Cirrus until the last moment. When you are flying on tow you have most of your attention on the tow plane, just like being a wing man flying formation. You might see some traffic beyond the lead or tow plane, but you would not be scanning all around and above and below as if you were solo or the lead plane.

I don't think the tow pilots wear chutes, it likely would not have helped due to the fire that seemed to be right away. If the tow pilot had control, there are fields and even roads he could have landed in. The Pawnee comes in slow and is very strong for any off field landing. The normally land on the dirt/grass when there is a glider on the small runway.

The Cirrus chute worked just as it was supposed to, but there was too much fire to be of any help.

[Bluedharma]

Any observations by the glider pilot?...

This is all I have seen.

The Pawnee, piloted by Alexander Gilmer, 25, was towing a glider seconds before the Cirrus smashed into it. Reuben Bakker, who was piloting the glider, spotted the Cirrus to his right and disengaged.

"By the time my hand was on (the tow-release lever) it collided straight into the right side of my tow plane,"
Bakker said on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday morning. "This happened really fast. The wings folded up on the tow plane. It was instant. There was a huge fireball."
Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14370095#ixzz0fA005Uw3

The Pawnee wasn't N8808L was it?
I guess with the low wings on the Cirrus, it might be hard to see both the glider and the Pawnee if you were descending.