A man killed Sunday in a motorized-glider accident has been identified as Michael Baldwin, an executive vice president of Oppenheimer Funds.
Baldwin, 44, of Centennial, also was president of Oppenheimer Funds Services and was responsible for fund-operations and corporate-technology groups.
The accident happened at 5:20 p.m. Sunday about 5 miles southwest of Castle Rock.
Jennifer Kaiser, air-safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident, said today that the cause of Baldwin’s death was not known but there was no evidence of mechanical difficulties in the German-made glider.
She said the investigation would take about six months.
Baldwin had taken off from Kelly Air Park, east of Castle Rock. The motorized glider has a wide wingspan and a propeller behind the cockpit. When not in use, it can be stowed away, Kaiser said. It was stowed at the time of Sunday’s accident.
When gliding, the machine can “catch thermals and go as high as 19,000 or 20,000 feet,” Kaiser said. There is oxygen on board.
She said the one-seat gliders are very expensive and that she knows of only two or three in the Denver area.
John Murphy, chairman and chief executive of Oppenheimer Funds, said in a prepared statement that Baldwin was “as passionate about flying as he was about many things in life and business.”
Before joining Oppenheimer, Baldwin was head of technology for Deutsche Bank’s global-markets division.
Before that, he worked for J.P. Morgan in technology, serving in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and New York.
He leaves a wife and two sons, all of Centennial.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at vculver@denverpost.com or 303-954-1223.
