Today is John Denvers Birthday - December 31-1943 - He would have been 71 if he had not taken that fateful flight - Tragically, John was killed in September 1997, flying his own Long EZ Experimental Aircraft in California. He crashed into Monterey Bay on final approach for landing. There was speculation that he ran out of gas, but it turned out the switch to change tanks was over (behind) his left shoulder. The switch had a broken handle; I heard it was Jerry Rigged with a pair of vice grips attached and because of that, may have been too hard to manipulate in an emergency situation. It was reported that this was only his second flight in the aircraft and I believe that he had needed more formal training before taking the aircraft on a solo flight. Regardless it was a terrible loss of a Great American that we still miss today. https://youtube/watch?v=AjzcdvF3gDc
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 11:25:57 +0000