The glider pilot who flew to safety through a fireball from the midair collision of two planes over Boulder says it was just seconds between when he saw one plane approaching and when it collided with the plane towing him.

On NBC's "Today" show Tuesday, Reuben Bakker and his two passengers discussed the crash that killed three people Saturday near Boulder Municipal Airport.

The Cirrus SR-20 aircraft that collided with the Piper Pawnee towing Bakker's glider was flying at a 90-degree angle to the Piper when they crashed, investigators said. Bakker managed to disconnect the glider just before impact.

The crash killed the tow plane pilot Alexander Howard Gilmer, 25, of Evergreen; Boulder lawyer and Cirrus pilot Bob Matthews, 58; and his 56-year-old brother, Mark Matthews.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators were piecing together the planes Tuesday and will do a 3-D reconstruction in Greeley, where they took the wreckage.

Bakker told the "Today" show he was flying Brandi Hepburn, of Greeley, and her son Javon McDonald when "Suddenly I saw a plane to the right. It looked like it was going to hit us. I reached for the release and by the time my hand was on it, it (the Cirrus) actually collided straight on the right side of my tow plane."

"The time it took for my hand to go here to there, it had already hit. The wings folded up on the tow plane, and it was instant. It was a huge fireball," he said.

"I didn't see the wreckage anymore because it was gone, because everything was red," Bakker said.

He said instinct led him to react so quickly. "You cant think. You just have to know what to do."

Hepburn said: "I was horrified. I felt the heat on my forehead as we flew through the flames and just watching it fall to the ground and knowing 'I don't think anybody made it.' "

Her son said he first thought the collision was a drill. "I thought it was a training thing for pilots to see what they'd do," Javon said.

Bakker said that as he flew back around through the smoke, "I made the mayday, mayday and told them that the tow plane had gotten taken out by the Cirrus."

Tracey Spence, who manages the Boulder-based flight school Journeys Aviation, heard Bakker's 'mayday' call reporting the collision on a shared radio frequency immediately after the crash.

"He announced 'mayday, mayday, mayday,' and said there was a collision and gave the location and said one of the airplane's parachutes had deployed," Spence told the Boulder Camera newspaper. He said Bakker remained calm throughout the call.

Spence told the Camera he heard no communication from either aircraft over the shared radio frequency while flying in the area Saturday.

Visibility at the time of the crash was about nine miles, Spence said. On a clear day, pilots can see up to 70 miles away.

Hepburn, whose daughter was flying in another glider with a friend at the time, credited Bakker with saving her and her son's lives.

"If it had been another pilot I don't know that we'd be here."