We saw Denver at the Hollywood Bowl a year or two before he was killed when his plane crashed into Monterey Bay. He gave an excellent concert. When he was killed, my husband said the plane he was flying should be banned. The second fuel tank changeover handle was back over the pilot’s shoulder. Difficult to reach. Denver was not the first to be killed in the Long EZ.
The Long EZ is a good design. It is one of the most fuel efficient airplane designs out there. John Denver did not build the Long EZ he was flying, he bought it from a man who had built it, but this man made a design change that deviated from the standard design.
In the standard design, the reserve fuel valve is located between the knees and is easily reachable, but in the plane John Denver bought, the man who built it didn't like the idea of a fuel line entering the cockpit, and so he changed the normal design to locate the reserve fuel valve behind him. The man who built it had long arms and could easily reach it, but John Denver did not and could not.
To make matters worse, John Denver had clamped a pair of vise grips on the valve stem to use as a handle to turn the valve, and they popped off while he was trying to turn the valve.
John Denver's death was the consequence of a series of events, not the least of which was his own carelessness.
It was not the consequence of the Burt Rutan designed aircraft being inherently dangerous. The Long EZ is safer than a lot of other aircraft designs because it cannot stall.