" Don't be ridiculous.....Denver was drunk."
Was he drunk the day he died? People make mistakes and it's not hard to get behind the curve especially when flying.
Apparently he had his pilot's license was up for review...and was flying without a valid license because of questions concerning his drinking. ( He had had a recent DUI..)
According to what I could find fairly fast....it appeared to be pilot error..and cockpit design that caused his crash.
My humble apologies.....
"On the day of the accident, Denver knowingly took off with just 3_ gallons of fuel in the left wing-root tank and 6_ gallons in the right tank. Both tanks hold 26 gallons. In fact, the engine had popped and stopped, probably from fuel starvation, when the plane was on the ground. Denver was observed turning to switch the fuel valve to another tank before takeoff.
Shortly thereafter, the engine popping was heard again, and the airplane pitched over and crashed into the water off Pacific Grove, Calif. The likely scenario: When the engine stopped in flight, Denver turned to flip the fuel tank switch. Based on test flights after the crash, as he turned his body while reaching for the switch, his foot inadvertently pressed down on the rudder pedal.
The Long-EZ is sensitive to rudder inputs and it is possible to aileron-roll the airplane from rudder inputs only.
The Board concluded tersely: "...the builder's decision to locate the unmarked fuel selector handle in a hard-to-access position...inadequate transition training by the pilot, and his lack of total experience in the type of airplane were factors in the accident." The findings have a universal application: to those designing and those flying everything from ultralights to jumbo jets.