He had ANTI-SKID on and should've turned it off when he realized he had no braking. (That's his words.)
The book introduces pilots with the highest rank that they attained over their career (Rear Admiral Gilchrist didn't eject from his jet as an admiral.) So the highest rank that this guy attained was LT, which is a shame. Dude learned some good lessons and could've spread those lessons to the fleet in a way that a safety briefer can't. He wasn't out hot-dogging it, he wasn't breaking the rules for ego's sake. Raw deal, but that's life, I guess. I hope he's doing well these days.
I don’t have any hornet time, but aircrew in general didn’t like the anti skid in the Tomcat. The hornet antiskid was supposed to be way better. I did have an antiskid failure in another aircraft coming out of depot. It failed to a no brake condition. I was able to deselect antiskid quickly, despite it being a new configuration. Fortunately, that was the solution. There but for the grace........