Date:	Tuesday 2 October 1990
Time:
Type:	McDonnell Douglas AV-8B-6-MC Harrier II
Owner/operator:	VMAT-203 / USMC
Registration:	162734
MSN:	512054/51
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	North Carolina -   United States of America
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	MCAS Cherry Point (KNT/KNKT)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
MAJ. ROLAND P. WHEELER
Call Sign: Wheels Died: Oct. 2, 1990

At 37, Wheeler was an experienced Marine pilot and flight instructor with 1,759 hours of flying time, the vast majority of them in the Harrier.

He died of brain and heart injuries after ejecting from his AV-8B during a low-altitude training flight over a dense North Carolina forest. He hit the trees before his parachute opened.

The investigation could not determine the cause of the crash, though it found that "human factors must be considered."

Another pilot and a witness on the ground reported seeing flames coming from the plane shortly before it crashed. But investigators found no physical evidence of fire before impact and concluded that the witnesses may simply have seen the detonation that launches the ejection seat from the plane.

Scramble
http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries21.html
Flight International 8-14 May 1991
http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6725
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/dec/17/nation/na-wall17/7
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6712/is_n9_v169/ai_n28592837/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Sep-2010 14:30	ASN Archive
01-Dec-2010 13:27	harro	Updated [Total fatalities, Location, Country, Source]
19-Aug-2011 03:28	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]