Jus' to play devils advocate.. the checkout he got was pretty much standard fare back in the day. The Long EZ was considered a very easy aircraft to fly. From
AV WEB....
Another Long EZ pilot (hereinafter referred to as the “checkout” pilot), gave the pilot about 1/2 hour of ground and flight checkout in the accident airplane in Santa Maria, California on the day before the accident, before the pilot’s departure for Monterey. He said that they performed two touch-and-go landings and some slow flight maneuvers, and that they discussed the aircraft systems, including the fuel selector location. He said that he had made arrangements with the pilot to relocate the fuel selector handle while the pilot, a musical performer, was away on tour. He also said that a pillow was placed on the back of the pilot’s seat to assist him in reaching the rudder pedals.
The checkout pilot stated that about a month before the accident, he had flown in the front seat with the pilot on a demonstration flight in the accident airplane. He said the pilot had also flown in the backseat on two other Long EZ demonstration flights.
For a 2700hr pilot who flew aerobatics, a Lear Jet and gliders, that should have... and in my opinion, was enough for a fixed gear, fixed pitch single.
3 things that are worthless to a pilot:
The runway behind you
The air above you
.... and the airspeed you don't have.
Denver's pilots license was revoked at the time for DWI tickets
Read through this, found here;
https://groups.google.com/g/rec.aviation.homebuilt/c/CFLP9voMQqQ?pli=1
After purchasing the ship and test flying it at the exchange site, John Denver
ferried it to the airport from which he took off on the fatal flight; ferry
flight time was more than an hour. On the day of the crash, he took off, shot
some patterns, then headed out for some personal flying...and crashed into the
ocean. The ship he purchased had a 'non-standard location' fuel transfer
valve; it was located on the seat back bulkhead behind the pilot's left
shoulder. It also was missing a handle; Denver took along a vise-grip-like
tool specifically to assist fuel valve rotation.
Denver did not refuel in the time span between leaving the purchase site and
his crash.
Melville said it was humanly impossible in their tests to reach around and
even *touch* the fuel valve without inadvertently putting in some right
rudder to brace one's body.
The Vari/Long-Eze designs' strong yaw/roll coupling results in a right bank
with right rudder which - if not unchecked - can easily become a *descending*
right turn. From 400' one's reaction time is critical.
For the above reasons - and more, covered in perhaps 5-10 minutes of
presentation - Melville's conclusion was John ran a tank dry, and when the
engine sputtered at low altitude got involved sufficiently dinking with the
valve that he didn't mind the flying store enough to remain alive.
Additional possible contributors?: non-standard/non-intuitive fuel valve
position/tank relationship; firm valve actuation forces required.
FWIW, on the day of the crash, a line boy specifically asked if he should
refuel the bird; Denver declined.
My sad conclusion after listening to the forum presentation was John Denver
killed himself from ('the usual') string of inexplicable decisions which
'should not have occurred'. Upon listening to Martin Hollman's take the next
day, I concluded it was aerodynamically sound (insofar as the GU airfoil was
concerned), but speculative and probably erring due to distance. (So far as I
know Hollman was not directly inolved in the NTSB investigation).
Ever read the details on John F. Kennedy Jrs last flight?