I don’t assume it was his fault, but my dad was a lifer Naval officer who was in aviation for the first part of his career, around the mid-70s. A bad/political/a-hole commanding officer could stir up hell for a pilot over this type of thing if he so chose, at least back in the day — my dad had a friend who crashed a trainer; the guy never flew again. Maybe things are different now.
I see your point. I’d say with today’s situation with our Naval Aviation, there will be an investigation, and if not found negligent, the aviator will return to duty as a highly valued member of the team.
“.. my dad had a friend who crashed a trainer; the guy never flew again. Maybe things are different now”.
A F-18 is not a trainer. This pilot probably flew a trainer many hours ago.
I was stationed with a Navy pilot who ran his Hornet out of fuel during a night training mission. His O-8 told him he’d never fly again, but an O-9 overruled him - that was over a decade ago.