The 24 men and women touched down at 6:20 a.m. and were given a hero's and heroine's welcome on the airstrip.

Lt. Shane Osborn, the pilot and mission commander of the Navy EP-3 that collided with a Chinese fighter plane and was forced to land on Hainan Island, said the first thing he wanted to say was that "we are definitely glad to be back."

Osborn said he wanted to assure all the families of the crew members that they are fine.

And he thanked people for their support. "We didn't hear much about it at first, but I'd like to thank you for your support these past days. It definitely helped," he said.

"God bless America," he said.

About 200 people, many who live on the air base, cheered and waved signs that said "aloha" as the crew members came off the plane. The men and women were draped with leis, and one crew member flashed a shaka sign as he walked off the plane.

Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of Pacific forces, welcomed back the 24 crew members, congratulating them on the professionalism they showed through their detainment in China.

"We are lucky to have men and women like you protecting the freedom of our nation," Fargo said.

The crew members arrived after a brief layover at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam, during which the crew members got their first chance to talk with family members by telephone, the crew was to leave for Hickam Air Force Base aboard an Air Force C-17 transport.

They will be staying at Pearl Harbor for two days of briefings before returning to Whidbey Island, Wash., for a homecoming celebration planned for Saturday afternoon.

Rear Adm. Michael Holmes, commander of Patrol and Reconnaissance Force Pacific, said the Whidbey Island return will be the best opportunity for families to reunite with the crew. He said Whidbey Island Naval Air Station would be opened to the public for the celebration and thousands were expected at attend.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said a 13-member team of psychologists, physicians, intelligence officers and other specialists was aboard the plane to check on the crew's health and begin debriefings.

"What we're looking for is before the details of the collision start to fade ... with time, we want to see if we can capture their memories ... and get their understanding, in their own perceptions, in their own words, of the details surrounding the accident," Quigley said.

"We're very pleased," said Shirley Crandall, stepmother of Navy Seaman Jeremy Crandall, from her home in Loves Park, Ill. "My heart is just pounding."

The crew landed their damaged Navy EP-3 on Hainan after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet on April 1 over the South China Sea. The Chinese government said it would keep their surveillance plane until it could hold more talks with the United States starting April 18.

The collision shattered the tail fin of the Chinese F-8 fighter, which spiraled out of control, Chinese state media have said. The pilot, Wang Wei, was seen bailing out, but is missing and presumed dead.

"The incident has not been fully settled. We hope that the U.S. side will adopt a serious attitude toward China's standpoint on the incident and handle it properly," said Chinese President Jiang Zemin, in Brazil on a 12-day tour of Latin America, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

The crew's release came after Bush agreed to say the United States was "very sorry" for the pilot's death, and the U.S. plane's landing in China without verbal permission.

"This has been a difficult situation for both our countries," Bush said. "I know the American people join me in expressing sorrow for the loss of life of a Chinese pilot. Our prayers are with his wife and his child."

The government-run Beijing Morning Post today carried the banner headline: "The United States finally apologizes!"

A Xinhua commentary said the Chinese people had united behind their government in "opposing American hegemony and protecting national sovereignty and dignity. This shows China upholds peace and does not fear intimidation by big powers."

-The crew left the Chinese naval guest house where they had been held before dawn, and driven to the airport in two buses with tinted, curtained windows. A police car escorted them.

The buses pulled onto the tarmac next to the airliner, where the Americans in green jump suits walked up a boarding ladder into the plane. The jet took off immediately.

Chinese police, some in riot gear, showed up at the airport immediately after the plane left. At least one group of foreign journalists was detained for about four hours, CNN reported.

Police in black uniforms tried to shoo away other camera crews and reporters gathered to see the takeoff.

Yesterday's delicate, carefully worded compromise — characterized immediately by Chinese officials as an apology — capped days of tortuous linguistic negotiation over the release of the air crew and the collision that has threatened U.S.-China relations.

It offered a tolerable way out for the governments of two powerful, deeply intertwined nations that, in public, had maintained intractable positions. The United States evaded the full apology demanded by China, which nevertheless extracted an intricate series of expressions of sorrow from Washington.

Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said China had agreed to release the crew on "humanitarian grounds."

China's deputy U.N. ambassador, Shen Guofang, said his country would keep the spy plane, which has been held on Hainan since April 1, pending further investigation. He declined to offer a timetable for the plane's return.

American officials assume Chinese experts have stripped the craft of its sophisticated surveillance equipment. Satellite photos show trucks lined up next to the spy plane on the tarmac of the Chinese air base in Lingshui, where it made the emergency landing.

Crew members worked to delete top-secret codes and intelligence before the Chinese came aboard, the Pentagon has said.

U.S. officials said there were no plans to end the practice of flying spy planes in international airspace near China. Chinese officials have denounced the surveillance flights as a violation of national sovereignty.

"It must be pointed out that this case has not concluded yet," Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said.

With Jiang in Latin American throughout much of the crisis, it wasn't immediately clear who in the Chinese government was managing the situation, who had a say in deciding to release the crew, or to what extent the Chinese military was involved.

In addition, there were very few of the direct pronouncements from top officials that are typical in situations when China feels its sovereignty or dignity has been threatened.

In a letter delivered yesterday afternoon to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, U.S. Ambassador Joseph Prueher twice used the words "very sorry."

The letter appeared to be a compromise to satisfy China's demand for a formal apology while accommodating Bush's refusal to offer one for what his government considered an accident. After the letter's release, the two sides offered different interpretations.

"Please convey to the Chinese people and to the family of pilot Wang Wei that we are very sorry for their loss," said the letter, released by the White House in English.

It also says Washington is "very sorry for entering of China's airspace and the landing did not have verbal clearance."

But, at the insistence of Secretary of State Colin Powell, the United States refused to say the American plane violated Chinese airspace.

Associated Press contributed to this report.