Another good email:

I would caution you and your readers not to focus on what the USNA or Naval Aviation policies or procedures are now, since they were not in effect at the time Sen McCain graduated and entered flight training, hence are not germane to the discussion. I personally graduated from NROTC in 1976, so can speak of the situation a bit closer to his timeframe, although even my testimony is not definitive — a contemporary to Sen McCain should weigh in. When I went to Pensacola, prospective Naval Aviators were required to be in good health and have 20/20 vision. Those with less vision became Naval flight Officers (as I did). The GPA required was 2.5 (out of the then-standard 4.0 possible), hardly stellar. Roughly half of those NROTC graduates who requested flight training got it; I have no idea what the success rate was for Academy graduates, but, since Boat Schoolers routinely had an advantage over NROTC graduates, I suspect that they had a higher success rate than we. Keep in mind that, at the time, aviation was considered “better” than surface warfare (and definitely better than all the other jobs a newly commissioned Ensign could get), and Ensign McCain’s grades were completely disqualifying for Nuclear Power training. So I would deduce that he got no special treatment for assignment to aviation training. Once he got to Pensacola, however, any allegation of preferential treatment because of his family clearly demonstrates the ignorance of the person making it. Being the son of an admiral would not have been unusual enough to have highers-up take an interest in his progress — his father was not the CNO for example. And the training process is merciless; those who fail to measure up are eliminated. That McCain not only completed flight training, but qualified for jets, means that he was an exceptionally good pilot, as those who were not got multi-engine aircraft or helicopters. Tactical jets were reserved for the top pilots, and there is no way to fake that. I will endorse the comment that someone made that ”To give such an assignment to someone unqualified wouldn’t be an act of patronage, it would be a death sentence, for the pilot and those on the carrier deck.” I have personal knowledge of one instance, a former flight school classmate who was given special consideration purely because of his skin color and later was killed by the very failing that should have washed him out.