http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081006/ts_alt_afp/usvotemccainpilot_081006134935;_ylt=AmGKshfM3.sT0XIN1e9HBDapg9IFLOS ANGELES (AFP) - US presidential hopeful John McCain was prone to mistakes during his time as a Navy pilot, and if today's standards were applied, his career may have ended in a hard landing, according to a report Monday by The Los Angeles Times.
.....in Texas in 1960, he slammed into Corpus Christi Bay and sheared the skin off his plane's wings.
....In another incident, McCain was "clowning" around in a Skyraider over southern Spain about December 1961 and flew into electrical wires, causing a blackout in the area, the paper noted.
....In 1965, McCain crashed a T-2 trainer jet in Virginia, and after he was sent to Vietnam, his plane was destroyed in an explosion on the deck of an aircraft carrier in 1967, the report said.
The Times said it had interviewed men who served with McCain and located the 1960s-era accident reports and professional evaluations. "This examination of his record revealed a pilot who early in his career was cocky, occasionally cavalier and prone to testing limits," the paper concluded.
It reminded that in today's military, a lapse in judgment that causes a crash can end a pilot's career.