DENVER HAD INVALID LICENSE FAA YANKED MEDICAL CERTIFICATE AFTER ARRESTS.

Byline: David Kligman Associated Press 

John Denver flew to his death with a pilot's license invalidated because he had twice been arrested on drunk-driving charges, a federal investigator told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration pulled Denver's medical certificate - which is required to fly with a pilot's license - on June 13, 1996, said National Transportation Safety Board spokesman George Petterson.

But Sheriff Norman Hicks emphasized that the evidence indicates the 53-year-old Denver was sober when he took off in his privately built Long EZ aircraft Sunday and crashed into Monterey Bay.

``From all indications that we've been able to find - from talking to people who played golf with him, who saw him at the airport, to the person who dealt with him taking the plane out to get ready to fly - he was not drinking,'' Hicks said.

Denver, who achieved fame in the 1970s with songs including ``Rocky Mountain High'' and ``Sunshine On My Shoulders,'' died instantly of blunt trauma in the crash, according to the coroner.

Toxicology reports, which would show any evidence of drug or alcohol use, are expected in 10 to 12 days.

In Washington, FAA officials refused to say why Denver's medical certificate was revoked, citing privacy concerns.

However, another federal regulator, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited Denver's driving record.

The singer had two drunk-driving arrests in 1993 and 1994 in Colorado. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of driving while impaired in the 1993 case and was scheduled to be tried in January for the 1994 crash, in which he smashed his Porsche into a cluster of trees.

Denver's attorney, Walter Gerash, said the singer may have lost his pilot's license briefly in 1993 or 1994 when he was charged with drunk driving. But Gerash added that as far as he knows Denver had a valid pilot's license at the time of the crash.

``The FAA has different standards,'' he said. ``I don't know what their position was in 1994. They could have suspended it for a month or two, but as far as I'm concerned he had his license. He told me he had it.''

On the day of his death, Denver parked his Porsche at the Monterey Peninsula Airport. Hicks said authorities found a handgun in the car, but did not yet know whether he had a permit to carry the weapon.

Meanwhile, divers recovered the engine of Denver's plane in 40 feet of water Tuesday and turned it over to NTSB investigators.

``Piece by piece, we'll put the airplane back together. We're very happy with the condition of the engine,'' Petterson said. ``The saltwater has not taken its toll on the engine as much as we had feared.''

Investigators are assembling the wreckage in a hangar at Monterey Peninsula Airport. Petterson said they had not seen any obvious problems with the plane's fuselage.

The 150-horsepower, 200-pound engine is a key piece of evidence as to why Denver's plane apparently nose-dived Sunday into the waters 100 yards off Lovers Point on Monterey Bay. Witnesses reported a ``popping'' sound before the crash.

Van Snow, a veterinarian who sold the plane to Denver for $56,000, said he had flown the plane for 700 hours without incident. The repainted plane was delivered only Saturday to Denver.

``My feelings were somewhere between absolute sickness and disbelief,'' Snow said. ``He's such a great pilot and that was such a great plane - it's hard for me to understand.''

He said he did not ask Denver for his license during the sale.

Also Tuesday, Scaled Composites Inc., founded by Long EZ designer Burt Rutan, flew a replica of Denver's plane into the airport from its Mojave headquarters to help investigators. The pilot was Mike Melvill, who recently flew the plane around the world with Burt Rutan's brother, Dick Rutan.

``He's an expert on the airplane, he brought blueprints of the airplane. We're going to try to use it as an example to lay out our parts,'' Petterson said.