Deducer you have your opinion and I have mine.
John McCain, fighter pilot aboard the USS Forrestal carrier, was inadvertently but recklessly responsible for the devastating fire aboard that ship in 1967. According to witnesses, McCain was waiting to taxi into the launch and was in front of another fighter jet. During this time, he pulled a sophmoric trick called a "wet launch" which is to blow flame through the exhaust. This trick set off a missle on the plane behind him, igniting an explosion and fire. McCain then abandoned his plane in panic, and in the process dropped two of his own unexploded bombs on the deck. These bombs were caught in the ensuing blaze and exploded, igniting an inferno that eventually killed 134 crewmen. McCain, was immediately sequestered and kept from an enraged and vigilante crew who knew what he'd done. Calls were made to his father, a Navy admiral. Shortly after the fire was extinguished McCain was secretly hustled to an arriving helicopter and removed from the plane. No charges were brought against him, and the official story of the fire did not identify him or his actions as the cause of the catastrophe.
McCain, who finished 394th out of a class of 399 at the Naval Academy, but who was the wealthy son of an active admiral, had been ushered into flight school despite his poor and disqualifying academic credentials. Much like his academic record, he was a poor student pilot and was not considered a "top gun" by his peers, though he learned to fly. In his brief career as a lackluster pilot before being downed and captured, he had been shot down 4 previous times and was considered by his peers to be incompetent.
