Pro golfer Maggert IDs brother as victim of plane crash

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 09:30 p.m., May 8, 2008
Updated 08:42 p.m., May 9, 2008

Barry Maggert

Photo by CBS4 News / Copter 4

CBS4 News / Copter 4

The wreckage of a Cessna 182H airplane lies hemmed in by trees near Black Hawk. Two men were on the plane Thursday en route to Boulder Municipal Airport. Both were injured in the crash, but one had died by the time rescuers reached the remote site.

Barry Gutierrez / The Rocky

A Central City Police officer watches aircraft circling after responding to the crash.

The pilot who died in the Thursday afternoon Cessna plane crash near Black Hawk was Barry Maggert, his brother, professional golfer Jeff Maggert, confirmed Friday.

Jeff Maggert withdrew from the Players Championship in Florida when he heard the news and is flying to Colorado, the Associated Press reported.

Barry, Jeff's older brother, has 23-year-old twin boys, Lee and Bryant. Bryant was to graduate Friday from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

The Gilpin County Sheriff's Office had reported that the pilot was 55 and the passenger 23. The Colorado Civil Air Patrol had reported that the pilot died and his passenger was injured.

Maggert was a columnist for the Carbondale Valley Journal and owned Maggert & Associates Engineers in the town.

The Valley Journal says Maggert is a former chairman of the Garfield County Libertarian Party and wrote a column that expressed those views titled "Live and Let Live."

The injured passenger was flown to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver.

Bulldozers and other heavy equipment today will clear a road to the site of Thursday afternoon's deadly crash of the Cessna single-engine plane.

The Cessna departed from the Glenwood Springs Airport on Thursday headed for Boulder and the graduation of one of Maggert's twin sons.

The terrain is so rough and the road so covered with snow that the heavy equipment is needed to open up a route for recovery crews, said Cherokee Blake, spokeswoman for the Gilpin County Sheriff's Office.

"The snow is so deep, rescuers on foot cannot get up there," Blake said.

The operation is expected to take several hours and involve several emergency agencies.

The National Transportation Safety Board also will be at the site today to begin its investigation into the cause of the crash.

On Thursday, rescuers aboard snowmobiles, snowcats and horses struggled to reach the plane but never made it.

Eventually, a Black Hawk helicopter from Buckley Air Base dropped three rescuers near the crash site, which is between 10,000 and 10,500 feet elevation.

The fixed-wing single-engine Cessna 182H is 43 years old, and registered to Barry Maggert and Carroll Winkler of Glenwood Springs.

After the crash, someone aboard the plane was able to call 911 on a cell phone, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.

Last month, Maggert lost in his bid to become Carbondale town trustee.

According to his company's Web site, Maggert campaigned unsuccessfully for a seat in the Colorado legislature eight years ago. In campaign literature, he called for smaller government and less taxes, saying that would "foster a society of individuals pursuing life, liberty and happiness without the interference of inane governmental programs."

He espoused charity by individuals rather than government welfare programs, and lived his principles in his own life.

He donated his time and engineering skills for a church's community center and for a retreat for severely ill children.

He coached the baseball team of his youngest son, Taylor, now 21, while his wife, Renee, was active in the boys' soccer programs.

The Associated Press and Daily Camera contributed to this report.