A Fatal Test Ride
Prosecutors later reopened the case, only to close it after Denver’s death in October 1997. In 1996, the FAA concluded that Denver would no longer be allowed to fly a plane. The decision was made as a result of his failure to abstain from alcohol. And it would come to be a major factor in his death…
John Denver experimental plane. Source: Pinterest
On October 12, 1997, Denver was test flying an experimental plane that he had recently bought from a man in Santa Maria. He was practicing a number of touch-and-go landings that afternoon before taking the plane out for a spin over Monterey Bay in California. But his “test ride” turned out to be his last. He was only 53 years old.