Updated at 10:45 a.m., Thursday, April 12, 2001

'Welcome back and well done'

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Lt. Shane Osborn, pilot and mission commander of the EP-3 surveillance plane, holds an American flag and prepares to salute Rear Adm. Michael Holmes as he arrives at Hickam Air Force Base today. Associated Press

Amidst cheers from hundreds of well-wishers, 24 crew members of a Navy spy plane detained in China since April 1 arrived at Hickam Air Force Base shortly after dawn today.

"The first thing I'd like to say on behalf of the crew is that we're glad to be back and we thank you for your support," said Lt. Shane Osborn, the pilot and mission commander of the EP-3 surveillance aircraft that was forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan island after it collided with a Chinese fighter jet.

"Now that we're back, we definitely have some things to take care of," said Osborn, the only crewmember who spoke to well-wishers. "God bless America."

Several of the 21 men and three women broke into smiles as they stepped from an Air Force transport plane dubbed "The Spirit of Bob Hope," which they had boarded on Guam. One man waved and flashed the shaka sign to the hundreds of service personnel and military families who turned out for the brief ceremony, which included a Navy honor guard and band.

Well-wishers lined the tarmac waving flags and placards that read "Welcome Home" and "Aloha," and outside the plane the fliers were greeted with leis, made of ti leaves for the men and flowers for the women.

The freed fliers were greeted warmly by top military commanders and Hawai'i's congressional delegation, then whisked to Pearl Harbor for two days of questioning about their ordeal. They will fly to their home base on Whidbey Island, Wash., on Saturday to be reunited with family members.

Admiral Thomas Fargo, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, told the crew their country was very proud of them and glad they had returned safely.

"We're lucky to have men and women like you protecting the interests of our nation," Fargo said. "Welcome back and well done."

He then read a letter from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who also congratulated the crew.

"Throughout your days in detention you've conducted yourselves with honor and professionalism and held your heads high," the letter stated. "You put your lives at risk so that the citizens of a grateful nation can live their lives in peace and freedom."

Melaina Sanders, whose husband, Michael, is a Navy pilot stationed here, said she and many other military spouses were thrilled to see the crew return.

"It's the best feeling in the world," she said. "Our husbands deploy all the time and there's a constant threat, but you can't concentrate on that. When something happens, we all come together. If it was our guys who had been in China, the wives of these men would be supporting us."

China allowed the crew to leave Hainan on a chartered commercial jet after the Bush administration released a carefully worded letter that said the US was "very sorry" that the Chinese fighter pilot had died and that the crippled American plane had landed on Chinese soil without express permission.

China had demanded a full apology for the incident, but the United States maintained that the U.S. plane had been operating legally in international airspace over the South China Sea and had not caused the collision.

The U.S. plane — filled with secret electronic surveillance equipment — remains held on Hainan, its fate now the focus of negotiations that are due to resume Wednesday.

U.S. officials believe the Chinese military has dismantled and carted off much of the plane's spy gear, though it is not clear whether that will compromise future U.S. intelligence gathering. The U.S. crew may have been able to destroy the plane's most sensitive equipment and data before it landed.