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The thing about his other mishap is that mishaps at that time were treated a lot different. There was a trainee pilot in the early 1960s that crashed an F-100 while performing a loop. Plane stalled upside down right that top of the loop. The plane was totally out of control. There was insufficient altitude to recover, so the pilot punched. Cause of the stall? The instructor pilot taught the trainee a technique that was unauthorized and ill-advised to fly a loop. The only thing said to the student was by another instructor complaining that he crashed his favorite jet because it had the best radar set. The instructor got chewed out by the wing commander and was on the flight schedule the next day.

Crashes were handled a lot different back then. The worst year for F-100 crashes was 1958, with 116 jets destroyed and 47 pilots killed.

Command level had a lot more discretion on many matters. I remember an ABH operated a red tagged elevator door. The elevator door bumped a Tomcat and it rolled into another Tomcat nose to nose. I don't remember anyone getting a court martial over it but it did major damage money wise. A mistake like that took several persons not just the guy punching the button. The plane wasn't spotted right as it should not have been that close to the door. I think the door was tagged out for maintenance. If it was Red Tagged the power should have also been off.

I do remember in the late 70's we lost a lot of planes it seemed like. One issue I think was with A-6 {can't remember variant} dropping like a brick right after launch. I remember at least one F-14 FD crash where the landing gear hit the round down. It snapped and the pilot hit hard starboard engine and rode it off the angle before jettison. That one was seen by VIP's on the bridge. We lost a S-3 and crew that caught the wrong wire. The public may not believe it but even allowing for the reduction in planes and pilots fewer planes are crashing. My cousin was on the GW in the Gulf War and they didn't loose a plane.