Posted on 01/13/2018 9:46:22 AM PST by SamAdams76
Most likely people under age 40 have no idea who John Denver was. He had a string of pop hits. Then he died in a airplane crash in some sort of experimental plane? He might have been a goofy granola-eating liberal but he did write some pretty good songs in the "folk-rock" style back in the 1970s.
His first big success was writing a song called "Leaving On A Jet Plane" which was a big hit for Peter, Paul & Mary, another group of granola eating liberals.
His real life name was Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.
Yikes, that's a mouthful.
I remember him in a movie with George Burns. I think it was called "Oh God" or something like that. Back in the late 1970s. Not a bad film.
It's just weird that he dropped off the face of the earth. Nobody remembers him.
"Annie's Song" is my favorite song from him. I remember hearing that song on the radio the day that Richard Nixon resigned the presidency. I will always associate that song with Richard Nixon resigning.
You obviously know a lot more about planes than I do. There’s no question about that. I did, however, read a couple of detailed articles about the Denver crash. It turns out that one of the investigators actually got into an exact model of the plane Denver crashed in and tried to switch the tanks. He demonstrated that it was almost impossible to do it without pressing the rudder. If he’d been airborn, he’d have died just as Denver did.
Following that physical demonstration there was no dispute re the cause of the crash. It was a design flaw first and foremost, and Denver’s inexperience with that particular plane second.
I liked Denver and his music. I bought a DVD of his greatest hits after he passed.
I never thought of him as a liberal.
I always thought of him bringing music to my ears that I still cherish today.
As long as the lyrics and music are not contaminated with liberal garbage, I’ll take the music from anybody. But, John Denver was someone that I could handle his music anytime.
Heck, I had his music in my car all the time, and I subjected anybody else that traveled in my car to the same music. Wish he was still with us, but, his music still haunts me.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting a generally clean environment. The pollution of the 60s was idiotic. Brown smog constantly over LA, Lake Erie catching on fire, the Chicago River was an open sewer.
He was in for sane environmentalism. The modern environmentalism is a retarded religion.
Thank you for that information
I love John Denver. My favorite songs are Annie’s Song and Matthew. All of his songs are wonderful. What beats Rocky Mountain High? The Best
Wow! That’s a great story!
The Country Music Awards really need to get Norm MacDonald as their emcee.
Many of his songs used to bring tears to my eyes because of the tough times I was going through with my wife.
"Country Roads" was one of those songs. Thanks for the memory.
He was born in the summer of his 27th year
Coming home to a place he’d never been before
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again
You might say he found a key for every door
When he first came to the mountains his life was far away
On the road and hanging by a song
But the string’s already broken and he doesn’t really care
It keeps changing fast and it don’t last for long
Pothead, drunk driver, and pilot who died illegally flying an airplane. Yeah, I remember the idiot and danger to society.
Denver was born in New Mexico when his father was in the Army Air Corps, so maybe you tapped into something.
In the end, though, New Mexico couldn't compete with Colorado and West Virginia.
The aircraft John bought second-hand, originating with builder Adrian Davis, was the only amateur constructed Long-EZ with a non-standard placement of the fuel tank select-handle, behind the left shoulder. The aircraft design plans called for placement on the console between the pilots knees. John also failed to conduct a proper pre-flight inspect of an unfamiliar aircraft, and departed the airfield drawing upon a nearly empty fuel tank.
https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NTSB_Determines_John_Denvers_Crash_Caused_by_Poor_Placement_of_Fuel_Selector_Handle_Diverting_His_Attention_During_Flight.aspx
A cousin of mine’s father was a test pilot and instructor in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s and then went into the astronaut program at Canaveral. Denver was also an Air Force brat and a classmate of my cousin’s. He and Henry Deutchendorf smoked a lot of dope back in their school days.
I listen to several of his songs. Talented guy.
The engine had to have gone thru him as the plane went straight down.
Describes the layout and the 3 pieces they recovered of him.
https://tighar.org/smf/index.php?topic=563.0
The plans for the Long E-Z kit aircraft say that the fuel selector handle—which switches the fuel flow between the left and right tanks—should be located between the pilot’s legs. But the plane’s builder, aircraft maker Adrian Davis Jr., said he put it behind the pilot’s left shoulder because he did not want fuel in the cockpit.
On the day of the crash, Denver and a maintenance technician talked about the inaccessibility of the handle. “They tried a pair of Vise-Grip pliers on the handle to extend the reach of the handle, but this did not work,” the report said.
Under those circumstances, the pilot would have had to remove his shoulder harness, turn around and switch the handle.
http://articles.latimes.com/1998/jun/23/news/mn-62708
On January 27, 1999, the NTSB concluded the probable cause was Denver’s fatal accident was the pilot’s diversion of attention from the operation of the airplane and his inadvertent application of right rudder that resulted in the loss of airplane control while attempting to manipulate the fuel selector handle. Also, the NTSB determined that the pilot’s inadequate preflight planning and preparation, specifically his failure to refuel the airplane, was causal.
The NTSB further determined that the builder’s decision to locate the unmarked fuel selector handle in a hard-to-access position, unmarked fuel quantity sight gauges, inadequate transition training by the pilot, and his lack of total experience in this type of airplane were factors in the accident.
http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/John-Denver-N555JD.htm
Not if I can help it. Denver really perfected inoffensive soft country, but inoffensive music doesn’t stick in the brain well. Which makes him forgettable.
“Dolphins....on my shoulder.....make me happy.......
That ended in ‘93. Read the article, it mentions his new girlfriend. She was much younger, probably 30 years younger than Denver. Blond, slim and a very good golfer. They were having fun together like young puppies.
We may have sat near each other - lol.
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