The victims of a fiery plane collision over north Boulder included two brothers — middle-aged family men and professionals — and a young pilot from Evergreen, authorities and family confirmed Sunday.
Boulder litigator Bob Matthews, Englewood engineer Mark Matthews and 25-year-old pilot Alexander Gilmer died when the brothers’ Cirrus SR20 collided with Gilmer’s one-man Piper Pawnee on Saturday afternoon.
“Mark and Bob were men who were dearly loved,” the Matthews family said in a statement. “Wherever they went, they impacted their community with their integrity, kindness, humor and love.”
The Gilmer family declined to comment Sunday evening.
“We are in grieving and mourning,” said Todd Gilmer, Alexander Gilmer’s father.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators continued Sunday to comb the 2-square-mile crash site for clues to the cause of the midair accident that occurred more than 8,000 feet above the ground. And while their field work may wrap up this afternoon, the full probe could take months, investigators said.
Bob Matthews, 58, who public records show had held a pilot’s license at least since 2003, often brought his brother Mark, 56, with him on pleasure flights such as the one they took Saturday afternoon, according to the family.
The brothers took off from Boulder Municipal Airport in the older Matthews’ plane around 12:45 p.m. Radar information suggests they may have just started their descent for landing when they collided with the westbound Gilmer at around 8,300 feet.
Friends and family described the Matthews brothers as dedicated family men and respected professionals.
Jim Carpenter of Boulder met Bob Matthews in the early 1980s, when the pair joined a basketball league for fathers over 30 years old. The families went whitewater rafting together, and their kids — Bob Matthews’ three children are now adults — went to high school together.
“He is absolutely fun-loving, absolutely loyal, absolutely committed to his family,” Carpenter said. “He’s passionate about whatever he was doing.”
Mark Matthews, a father of two, ran an engineering business out of his Englewood home, organized his neighborhood’s Fourth of July celebration and would shovel neighbors’ walks on bitter-cold mornings, longtime neighbor Jim Weis said.
“He was the guy you’d want living next door to you,” Weis said. “He was real active in the neighborhood.”
Saturday afternoon, Gilmer took to the sky towing behind him a glider carrying another pilot and two passengers. The glider pilot avoided the crash.
Gilmer, who Federal Aviation Administration records show had held a pilot’s license since 2003, worked for Boulder-based Mile High Gliding, which also declined to comment.
The bodies of the three men were recovered from the crash site Sunday morning. The last of the planes’ wreckage will be removed today.
Scores of investigators — at one time as many as 100 — trolled the crash site in the Sunday snow looking for the tiniest fragment that might indicate the cause of the collision.
They will examine the wreckage for paint transfer and other clues, check maintenance logs and carefully review multiple videos and photos taken by eyewitnesses, said Jennifer Rodi, air-safety investigator with the NTSB.
But authorities, which also include an FBI recovery team and other agencies, will have to complete their investigation without the aid of the Cirrus SR20’s flight-data recorder, which was damaged beyond retrieval by both the fire and the hard impact, Rodi said.
The glider narrowly avoided disaster after pilot Reuben Bakker cut his craft loose from the ill-fated Piper seconds before the collision, landing safely 3 miles away and saving his life and those of his passenger and her 11-year-old son. Their names were not available.
Bakker’s mother-in-law, Deborah Tjarks, wasn’t surprised at his quick thinking and skill under pressure. She said Bakker has been a pilot for a number of years and also serves as an instrument instructor.
“People say he’s lucky,” Tjarks said. “But it’s not luck. He’s just good.”
Rodi told the Boulder Daily Camera that it’s possible one or more of the occupants of the downed planes leaped from the wreckage before it hit the ground, based on what witnesses have said.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
Staff writer Heather McWilliams contributed to this report.
