Past accident casts shadow of Navy officer's future

Twenty-four years ago Timothy Dorsey, a novice Navy jet pilot, was flying an F-14 Tomcat during a training exercise when he shot down an Air Force jet over the Mediterranean Sea, injuring the two aviators aboard.

A military investigation faulted him for a "basic error in judgment" and "an illogical act." Dorsey, who was based at Oceana Naval Air Station at the time, never flew again.

But his military career didn't end.

Earlier this month, Dorsey, now a Norfolk-based captain in the Navy Reserve, was nominated by the Obama administration to be a rear admiral. His appointment is awaiting Senate consideration.

Dorsey's supporters say he has redeemed himself since the incident, building a strong career as an intelligence officer.

His critics, including the pilot he shot down, say he should have been forced out of the service more than two decades ago. Some said they are contacting their senators to ask that his appointment be stopped.

"It was an unfortunate incident that occurred when I was a rookie naval aviator," Dorsey said Tuesday. "I regret that it occurred, but I have worked very hard over the years since that time."

The mishap was never covered up, he said, and has remained a part of his personnel record.

"Those involved in the promotion and selection board process in the Navy have complete access to my record, including those things that resulted from the accident in 1987," he said.

The pilot Dorsey shot down, Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Ross, said his own military career was hampered due to the debilitating back injury he suffered in the crash and eventually cut short by a medical discharge just months before he qualified for a regular pension.

"It cost me a lot," said Ross, who estimated he has undergone more than two dozen back surgeries in the years since the crash.

"I don't go a day without thinking about the guy who did this."

The incident occurred Sept. 22, 1987, during a war games exercise when Ross' RF-4C Phantom, flying from a base in Italy, was acting as an intruder trying to locate the aircraft carrier Saratoga.

A year later, Knight-Ridder News Service produced a detailed account of the incident - based on the Air Force investigation report - that described how Ross' plane was undergoing a midair refueling by a KC-135 tanker when the two aircraft were spotted by the Saratoga's radar operators.

Two F-14s, including Dorsey's jet, had taken off from the ship minutes earlier carrying live Sidewinder missiles - in violation of an agreement with the Air Force that the weapons would not be used, according to the news service.

Dorsey, then 25 with 245 hours of flying time in the F-14, was chasing Ross' twin-engine jet when he called the Saratoga for advice.

The carrier told him, "Red and free on your contact." He later told investigators that shocked him because the phrase meant to him it was "clearance to fire" on the Phantom.

"The combination of factors that I was seeing outside the airplane and hearing made me shoot," Dorsey said at the time. "It was very fast - I did not have time for a big three-party discussion."

"Seeing the Phantom close in on the carrier, I armed up and squeezed the trigger."

After his first missile malfunctioned, Dorsey fired a second Sidewinder, striking the Phantom.

Ross said Tuesday that he and his backseat man, 1st Lt. Randy Sprouse, didn't know what had happened and thought they may have collided with another plane. Both ejected, parachuted to the sea, and were picked up by a helicopter that took them to the Saratoga.

Sprouse ejected from the aircraft in the correct position, Ross said. But the missile spun the jet in such a way that Ross was pressed against the canopy rather than the seat as he ejected.

He broke a wrist, dislocated both shoulders and suffered a compression fracture of his spine.

Ross continued in the Air Force, but the injuries hampered his career, he said, forcing him to leave for medical reasons in 1997, less than six months before completing 20 years of service. As a result, he said, he receives a medical pension that is much less than regular military retirement pay.

Ross and others who oppose Dorsey's nomination contend that his career was saved in part because his father is Vice Adm. James Dorsey Jr., who was assistant deputy chief of naval operations at the time of the missile attack.

Timothy Dorsey said the allegation is not true, adding that his father, who retired in 1991, was long absent from the Navy for most of his career.

After Dorsey was grounded, he changed focus.

In September 1991, he left active duty for the Navy Reserve, where he became an intelligence officer. Working primarily in Norfolk, he went on to serve as commanding officer of three units.

He was mobilized to active duty in the Middle East during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a counterintelligence and intelligence officer. In 2003 he led the Navy's Mobile Interrogation Team that questioned Iraqi prisoners of war.

He also earned a law degree in 1995 at the University of Richmond and currently is vice president and general counsel for USA Discounters in Virginia Beach.

Rear Adm. Dennis Moynihan, the Navy's top spokesman, said military promotion boards are required to take a close look at a candidate's entire record.

When considering promotions, he said, board members "should not automatically discount any officer who, with the exception of a single incident, would otherwise be considered to be the best qualified."

The instructions for the promotion board considering rear admiral candidates order members to review any "adverse information," with a caveat.

"While the Navy is, and will remain, a service of higher standards and strictest accountability, we do not embrace blind adherence to a zero-defect mentality," the instructions state. "All of us have made mistakes in the past; the test is of the character and resilience of the individual and his or her ability to learn and grow from that experience."

Eugene Fidell, a military justice instructor at Yale University, said a meaningful Senate review of Dorsey's nomination is a healthy practice to ensure civilian control of the military. But added that the military "has a long history of permitting the advancement of people who, through good deeds and good work, overcome past disasters."

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Timothy Peppe, who was Ross' commanding officer in 1987, said he does not take the mishap lightly. But he added, "There's a lot that has transpired in almost 25 years. You inherently have to trust the system. Dorsey is like a lot of other aviators over the years. He's made a pretty significant mistake, but he's not the only guy that made a mistake."

Bill Bartel, 757-446-2398, bill.bartel@pilotonline.com