USA: THE U.S. SPY PLANE HELD BY THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES ON HAINAN ISLAND RETURNS TO THE UNITED STATES

Record ID: 646644

  • Title: USA: THE U.S. SPY PLANE HELD BY THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES ON HAINAN ISLAND RETURNS TO THE UNITED STATES
  • Date: 5th July 2001
  • Summary: (W5) MARIETTA, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 5, 2001) (REUTERS (A) - NO ACCESS USA/CNN/INTERNET) 1. SLV RUSSIAN ANTONOV CARGO PLANE CARRYING DISMANTLED SPY PLANE LANDING AT AIR BASE 0.43 2. SLV ANTONOV PLANE TAXIING ON RUNWAY 1.06 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th July 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MARIETTA, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAC1HMQMQB1A4VSO65XC6Y6PDI6
  • Story Text: The U.S. spy plane that was held by the Chinese
    authorites on Hainan island for 11 days after a midair
    collision with a Chinese fighter jet has returned to the
    United States.



    The American spy plane that was at the centre of a
    diplomatic standoff between the United States and China was
    flown to a Georgia air base on Thursday (July 5), where it is
    expected to be reassembled so that it can be returned to
    service.

    Security was tight as a huge Russian Antonov cargo plane
    carrying the fuselage of the 80 million U.S. dollar (USD)
    EP-3, which was held on China's Hainan Island since April,
    touched down at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia,
    at around 7:23 a.m. EDT (11:23 GMT).

    The plane's components will be unloaded and placed in
    hangar storage at Lockheed Martin Corp.'s facility, adjacent
    to the Dobbins base.

    Lockheed, original manufacturer of the surveillance plane,
    is currently finalising contract negotiations to restore the
    plane to flying status, the company said in a statement. The
    restoration effort would take several months.

    On a hangar near the main runway sits another EP-3 "donor"
    plane, parts of which will be used to rebuild the damaged
    plane.

    The damaged EP-3, loaded with surveillance equipment, had
    been on China's Hainan Island since April 1, when it made an
    emergency landing at the Lingshui naval air base after
    colliding with an intercepting Chinese fighter jet. None of
    the U.S. crew was seriously injured but the Chinese pilot was
    killed.

    China held the 24-member EP-3 crew for 11 days after the
    collision in a standoff that roiled U.S.-China relations just
    after George W. Bush became the U.S. president.

    It released the crew members only after Washington said it
    was "very sorry" for the death of the Chinese pilot and for
    the spy plane's landing on Hainan without permission.

    The United States had originally intended to repair the
    plane and fly it out, but China said allowing the plane to fly
    off Hainan would be a national humiliation. Beijing eventually
    agreed to let the plane be dismantled and flown out.

    The chartered Antanov AN-124 cargo plane, flown by a
    Russian crew, left China on Tuesday and first landed in Hawaii
    late on Tuesday with the 12-strong American recovery team that
    dismantled the EP-3, before continuing its journey to Georgia.


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