Disassembled Navy spy plane makes Hawai'i stopover
Associated Press
Parts of a U.S. spy plane that collided with a Chinese fighter jet, sparking a crisis in U.S.-China relations, arrived on U.S. soil from China yesterday.
Associated Press
A Russian Antonov-124 cargo aircraft carrying the fuselage of the EP-3E and equipment used to dismantle the plane landed at Hickam Air Force Base just after 6 p.m., a week earlier than scheduled.
An Antonov-124 cargo aircraft holding the disassembled EP-3E Navy spy plane taxis after landing at Hickam Air Force Base yesterday. The parts are headed for a Lockheed Martin facility in Georgia for reassembly.
The plane parts were packed onto the Russian cargo aircraft and flown off southern China's Hainan island yesterday. The plane stopped in Manila for refueling before departing for Hawai'i.
"Things went extremely smoothly," Navy Cmdr. John Fleming of the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawai'i said of the departure from China. "It was a very well-orchestrated operation."
He said civilian technicians were able to finish well before the 25-day target date of July 11 because of ideal weather conditions, lack of mechanical problems and Chinese cooperation.
"By every measure, the cooperation from the host nation was outstanding," Fleming said.
The arrival at Hickam was a subdued contrast to the celebratory welcome that greeted the plane's 24 crew members when it arrived after 11 days on the Chinese island. The crew members were greeted by a brass band, a cheering crowd, and Hawai'i and military dignitaries.
The Russian-designed transport aircraft took off from Hainan at 4:45 p.m. yesterday, the Navy said. It arrived in the Philippines about 2 1/2 hours later, refueled and left for Hawai'i shortly before 1 a.m.
Customs and flight records filed by the Russian air cargo company the Pentagon contracted with the Navy to carry the plane listed 40 tons of "aircraft parts." Two Americans joined the flight in Manila as petty officers.
The EP-3E is to be transported today to a Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Ga., where it would be reassembled in preparation for returning to service.
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The EP-3E, packed with sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment, made an emergency landing April 1 on Hainan after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea.
The collision and China's 11-day detention of the U.S. crew caused the worst tensions between Beijing and Washington since the bombing of China's embassy in Yugoslavia by U.S. planes in 1999.
A 12-member team from Lockheed Martin, the plane's manufacturer, that was sent to dismantle the EP-3E was expected to leave Hainan today, said the Pacific Command.
They will stop in Guam before heading back to the United States. The Russian plane's crew and Lockheed technicians will be debriefed in Hawai'i before leaving for Dobbins Air Force Base in Georgia.
Other parts of the aircraft were flown to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa.
The United States had wanted to repair the plane and fly it out of Hainan under its own power, but China refused to allow that.
The two sides eventually compromised, agreeing that the EP-3E would be transported out, but disassembled in such a way that it could be put back together again.
The Pentagon yesterday left open the possibility of junking the plane.
A Pentagon spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, said the Navy expects to repair the plane and return it to service. But if that turns out to be too expensive, the Navy has set aside $45 million to replace the EP-3E by converting a P-3 Orion maritime patrol plane to an electronic intelligence aircraft.
