LATimes: Mishaps mark John McCain's record as naval aviator

[Kadie]

Mishaps mark John McCain's record as naval aviator


Three crashes early in his career led Navy officials to question or fault his judgment. A Times review of his record suggests he was cocky, occasionally cavalier and prone to testing limits.


By Ralph Vartabedian and Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
6:49 PM PDT, October 5, 2008

John McCain was training in his AD-6 Skyraider on an overcast Texas morning in 1960 when he slammed into Corpus Christi Bay and sheared the skin off his plane's wings.

McCain recounted the accident decades later in his autobiography. "The engine quit while I was practicing landings," he wrote. But an investigation board at the Naval Aviation Safety Center found no evidence of engine failure.

The 23-year-old junior lieutenant wasn't paying attention and erred in using "a power setting too low to maintain level flight in a turn," investigators concluded.

The crash was one of three early in McCain's aviation career in which his flying skills and judgment were faulted or questioned by Navy officials.

In his most serious lapse, McCain was "clowning" around in a Skyraider over southern Spain about December 1961 and flew into electrical wires, causing a blackout, according to McCain's own account as well as those of naval officers and enlistees aboard the carrier Intrepid. In another incident, in 1965, McCain crashed a T-2 trainer jet in Virginia.

snip...
The Times interviewed men who served with McCain and located once-confidential 1960s-era accident reports and formerly classified evaluations of his squadrons during the Vietnam War. This examination of his record revealed a pilot who early in his career was cocky, occasionally cavalier and prone to testing limits.

In today's military, a lapse in judgment that causes a crash can end a pilot's career. Though standards were looser and crashes more frequent in the 1960s, McCain's record stands out.


more...
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-aviator6-2008oct06,0,7633315.story

[maseman]

1. Wow! Holy shit Batfart.

Obama's team needs to stay far away from this one.

[williesgirl]

2. Yes, but the 527's should go for the throat. rec'd

[jwirr]

8. Definitely.

[tpi10d]

3. Some overlap with the Rolling Stone story

Recommended..give it a hit!

[speedoo]

Awwriiight! Go LA Times!! nt

[Zenlitened]

4. "McCain Lied About Crash, Records Show"

:wow:

[Kadie]

14. Sound like Mc* is getting hit hard from all angles.

[tularetom]

5. Maybe having a father and grandfather of flag rank

explains why he was allowed to continue to fly.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Having Admirals in his family is what got him into Annapolis, rather than a state college

In military terms, McCain is an elitist.

[salin]

6. McCain = (privileged) Affirmative Action...

No other person, without his father and grand father's connections, would not have washed out and instead continued to climb careerwise with his actual performance record.

[jwirr]

9. Like *ss who was also in Yale because of his poppy.

[RagAss]

10. Pathetic Record.....What an Assclown !

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. Bush never wrecked a plane did he? I know he didn't fly much

but I think he didn't wreck a plane did he?

[zeemike]

13. I think flying scared bush.

And that is why he did not do much of it.

[Kadie]

15. .

It is amazing that he didn't with the trail of destruction he leaves behind.

[kestrel91316]

12. I wonder what my career USAF dad would have to say about

McSame's piloting skills if he were still alive.........he probably would raise an eyebrow or two. For the record, in 26 years he never crashed a goddam thing. He did, however, receive the Distinguished Flying Cross in Vietnam (and numerous other high awards) as a NAVIGATOR and electronic warfare officer (not even a pilot).

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

16. He hated Spain way back in 1961.