DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997                TAG: 9704110585

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   48 lines

PRESSURE SUCKED NAVY SEAL OUT OF PLANE, REPORT CONCLUDES CHIEF PETTY OFFICER THEODORE MORELAND DIED AFTER FALLING ONTO THE TARMAC.

A Norfolk-based Navy SEAL who died after apparently falling from the cargo bay of a parked Air Force C-17 Globemaster on Dec. 3 was in fact thrown from the plane because the aircraft commander opened the forward cargo bay door prematurely, an Air Force investigation has concluded.

Because the plane had not been depressurized and pressure inside was higher than out, opening the door pushed anyone and anything nearby out onto the tarmac. Chief Petty Officer Theodore M. Moreland suffered massive head injuries and died the following day; Air Force Capt. Jeffrey S. Wessels escaped with minor injuries.

Moreland, 33, was attached to SEAL Team 2 at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. The native of Beeville, Texas, left a wife, Tracey, and daughter, Christina.

The report by Air Force Col. Charles R. Johnson said that pressure against the door when it was opened was about 3,000 pounds. A post-landing checklist calls for depressurizing the plane before opening the door, but Capt. Michael W. Brown, a veteran C-17 pilot and pilot instructor who was in command, failed to do so, Johnson concluded.

Brown twice went to assist other crew members in opening the door after their efforts were unsuccessful, the report said. On the second attempt, he got the door to open.

Though Wessels testified that a pressure gauge read zero when Brown called it out on the checklist, the report said the plane's flight data recorder indicated the plane was pressurized and cockpit voice tapes indicated that the depressurization item on the checklist was not read aloud.

The plane can be depressurized automatically after landing, the report said, but the controls were not set to accomplish that.

The C-17s crew was part of the 315th Airlift Wing at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. The Globemaster had picked up Moreland and other Navy SEALS at the Norfolk Naval Air Station for a series of air drops near Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station in New Jersey. Three drops had been completed and the C-17 had landed to pick up a fourth set of jumpers when the mishap occurred.

Moreland was serving as the SEALs' jumpmaster for the exercise.

An Air Force spokeswoman said Thursday that the report was forwarded to Brig. Gen. Michael R. Lee, commander of the 2nd Air Force, based at Dobbins Air Force Base near Atlanta. Lee will decide whether to take further action against Capt. Brown, the spokeswoman added. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT MILITARY FATALITY REPORT

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