Posted on 10/06/2008 1:21:38 PM PDT by jessduntno
Mishaps mark John McCain's record as naval aviator
By Ralph Vartabedian and Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers October 6, 2008
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.
As a presidential candidate, McCain has cited his military service -- particularly his 5 1/2 years as a POW. But he has been less forthcoming about his mistakes in the cockpit.
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.
"Three mishaps are unusual," said Michael L. Barr, a former Air Force pilot with 137 combat missions in Vietnam and an internationally known aviation safety expert who teaches in USC's Aviation Safety and Security Program. "After the third accident, you would say: Is there a trend here in terms of his flying skills and his judgment?"
Jeremiah Pearson, a Navy officer who flew 400 missions over Vietnam without a mishap and later became the head of human spaceflight at NASA, said: "That's a lot. You don't want any. Maybe he was just unlucky."
Navy veterans who flew with McCain called him a good pilot.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
How many sorties has BHO flown?
Oh just try Messing with McCains Record....
You wont know what hit you!
Reminds me of the NYT Banner headline article in 92, attempting to demonstrate the elder Bush (a war hero) was actually a WW II war criminal!
Who would care what a Communist organization like the LA Slimes thinks?
Which reminds me, I’ve got to go thaw out that fish for dinner.
The man signed his name on the dotted line, raised his right hand, and took the oath. He obeyed the oath way above the call of duty, and that is good enough for me.
Obama on the other hand wines & dines terrorists who wear jewlery made from crshed US jets. That is not OK with me.
I hope they keep this line of attack up. This is a sure loser for Osamamedia.
And Obama once skinned his knee, valiantly learning to ride a bike, for his Country.
Wow. Do they not realize how this kind of an attack will backfire? They’re not helping bambi with this kind of stuff.
Not much has changed.
Actually, I think he was rather humble in his convention speech. He admitted that prior to his capture, he was too cocky and self-centered. He admitted he realized during his capture the errors of his previous attitude.
Ralphie should stick to writing stories promoting how great the Gay Life style is and forget about real life.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-hptb5&p=Ralph%20Vartabedian%20%2b%20gay&type=
If he was on the east coast, we would have to wonder if he wrote this a gay hot tub with Jason Blair and Pinch.
Three months later, McCain was on his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam when a surface-to-air missile struck his A-4 attack jet. He was flying 3,000 feet above Hanoi.
A then-secret report issued in 1967 by McCain’s squadron said the aviators had learned to stay at an altitude of 4,000 to 10,000 feet in heavy surface-to-air missile environments and look for approaching missiles.
“Once the SAM was visually acquired, it was relatively easy to outmaneuver it by a diving maneuver followed by a high-G pull-up. The critical problem comes during multiple SA-II attacks (6-12 missiles), when it is not possible to see or maneuver with each missile.”
The American aircraft had instruments that warned pilots with a certain tone when North Vietnamese radar tracked them and another tone when a missile locked on them.
In his autobiography, McCain said 22 missiles were fired at his squadron that day. “I knew I should roll out and fly evasive maneuvers, ‘jinking,’ in fliers’ parlance, when I heard the tone,” he wrote. But, he said, he continued on and released his bombs. Then a missile blew off his right wing.
Vietnam veterans said McCain did exactly what they did on almost every mission.
Frank Tullo, an Air Force pilot who flew 100 missions over North Vietnam, said his missile warning receiverconstantly sounded in his cockpit.
“Nobody broke off on a bombing run,” said Tullo, later a commercial pilot and now an accident investigation instructor at USC. “It was a matter of manhood.”
I thought that was the definition of a Naval Aviator?
This is infuriating.
#1 - One’s ability to fly a jet does not have bearing on one’s ability to be President.
#2 - John McCain was there, and was a pilot. How many can say that? Not Barack Hussien Obama!
But it’s from a leftist propoganda rag, so who cares?
You...
A. Haven't been flying long
B. Aren't a Fighter pilot
a pilot who early in his career was cocky, occasionally cavalier and prone to testing limits.
You don't land airplanes on rolling pitching decks at night without being cocky, occasionally cavalier and prone to testing Limits
We're called NAVAL AVIATORS
we mentioned this way back in Dec that they would try this. don’t think it will work though. next up - smears about his first wife’s accident, his affair and their divorce.
Yeah. Imagine...a cocky jet pilot.
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