https://www.cmrlink.org/data/sites/85/CMRDocuments/CMRRPT09-0695.pdf
Her training record was filled with downs and catastrophic errors that would have washed out anyone else. Blown out both main gear from ignored training, all kinds of head mistakes that would have got her killed had she been dropping actual bombs, had HUD set for landing while bombing, screwed up emergency procedures, and during hot fueling when she was supposed to shut down the engine on that side, she left it running endangering the ground crew..
Took 37 passes to carrier qual as opposed to the normal 20.
... those are just the highlights.
It’s a miracle she only killed herself. In a sense, Borda, Cheney and the Navy murdered her.
That’s what I remembered. No one was surprised that she crashed and killed herself.
There was never a mention of an engine failure. Even if there was one, the F-14 had two engines and could easily fly with just one.