Detained crew on its way home

Lt. Shane Osborn briefs reporters in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

In this story: Hero's welcome awaits crew Search for Chinese pilot ends China rejects U.S. version Secrets lost? RELATED STORIES, SITES

HICKAM AFB, Hawaii (CNN) -- Crew members of a U.S. Navy surveillance plane headed for a heroes' welcome at their home base on Whidbey Island, Washington, on Saturday, nearly two weeks after a collision with a Chinese jet forced an emergency landing in China.

The plane's pilot, Navy Lt. Shane Osborn, said the crew was glad to be going home.

"I want to thank America, the administration and everyone involved in getting us home so quickly," Osborn said before the crew boarded the flight to Washington. "It was a surprise and we're all glad to be back. We can all be proud of this crew."

VIDEO U.S. Navy Lt. Shane Osborn briefs the media on the collision with a Chinese jet Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) See the video released by the U.S. Department of Defense that sources say shows pilot Wang Wei harassing a U.S. plane Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Mike Boettcher reports on the crew's arrival in Hawaii Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    GALLERIES Images of the crew's return Images of some of the U.S. detainees in China    CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition    RESOURCES This computer animation shows how the Pentagon says the collision between a U.S. plane and a Chinese fighter happened Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Timeline: Overnight calls brought word of release deal    IN-DEPTH U.S.-China Collision: A diplomatic solution  • About freighter returning EP-3  • Look: Inside the EP-3  • Facts about the EP-3  • Map: Locating the incident  • Big picture: High stakes  • Classroom discussion guide  • Historical US-China timeline  • Whidbey arrival images  • Crew speaks out  • Crew's return images    BIG PICTURE High stakes in standoff    ALSO Bush won't attend U.S. crew's welcome-home ceremony Popularity of Anti-Bush computer game soars in China David Ensor: Arms sales to Taiwan and U.S. Ð China relations Chinese pilot's wife lauds U.S. crew release More related stories

Osborn also said the U.S. crew "did it right" and owed the Chinese no apologies.

Answering questions from reporters with a plane dubbed "The City of Seattle" waiting behind him, Osborn described what happened when his Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane and the Chinese F-8 collided over the South China Sea on April 1. (read full story)

"The first thing I thought was, 'This guy just killed us,'" Osborn said.

As his aircraft fell into a steep, nose-down dive, Osborn and his crew struggled to regain control -- and saw the Chinese pilot parachute away from his jet as it broke apart.

"I remember looking up and seeing water," he said. "I also saw another plane smoking toward the Earth with flames coming out of it."

China dropped its search for the missing pilot, Wang Wei, earlier on Saturday.

Hero's welcome awaits crew

When they step off the plane after the flight from Hawaii, where the crew members were debriefed after an 11-day detention in China, they'll be greeted by base personnel and their families, brought to Washington at the Navy's expense.

"I'm just excited, and I can't wait for when I can hug my son again," said Ramon Mercado Sr., traveling with his wife and two daughters and their families to meet his son, Ramon Jr. "Thank God he's alive."

The celebration continues in nearby Oak Harbor, Washington, where residents are displaying yellow ribbons and giant "Welcome Home" signs for the returning fliers.

"I think everybody's planning on going," Lisa Aydelotte, who lives near the base on an island about 50 miles north of Seattle, told The Associated Press.

Search for Chinese pilot ends

Intense diplomatic negotiations secured the release of the 24-member crew on Wednesday, 11 days after the April 1 collision forced the Navy EP-3E Aries II aircraft to make an emergency landing in China and sent the Chinese jet into the South China Sea.

Chinese officials gave up the search for their pilot, Wang Wei, on Saturday, but lionized him as a hero of national defense.

U.S. officials, however, blame the crash on Wang, saying he buzzed too close to the lumbering EP-3, clipping a propeller with his jet's tail. The Chinese F-8 broke apart and crashed into the sea, and the U.S. plane limped to Lingshui military base on Hainan, about 60 miles away.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld released videotapes on Friday of what he said were earlier close encounters between Chinese fighters and EP-3s. Rumsfeld said the tactics have been on the increase in recent months. (click here to watch)

"The F-8 pilot clearly put at risk the lives of 24 Americans," Rumsfeld said. "It was clear the pilot's intent was to harass the crew."

China rejects U.S. version

But Chinese officials said the videotapes proved nothing and accused the U.S. of trying to avoid responsibility for their own actions.

"The U.S. side should take a cooperative attitude and not seek excuses to evade responsibility," Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said.

The state-run Xinhua news agency cited Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue as saying that U.S. officials "confuse right and wrong and even falsely accuse the Chinese side."

"We have enough evidence to prove that it was the U.S. plane that violated flight rules by suddenly veering in a wide angle at the Chinese plane in normal flight, rammed into and damaged it, resulting in the loss of the Chinese pilot," Zhang said.

Navy personnel erect international flags in a hangar at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, where preparations are under way for the ceremony

"After the collision, the U.S. spy plane intruded into China's airspace and landed at a Chinese airport without permission from the Chinese side," she said. "These facts are manifest, and we have irrefutable evidence that the U.S. side cannot deny."

In a letter that secured the EP-3 crew's release, the United States said that it was "very sorry" for both the loss of life and that the pilot of the Navy plane had been unable to secure clearance to land in China as he brought his crippled plane to safety.

Secrets lost?

Both sides kept up a steady flow of rhetoric as a prelude to a meeting, probably in Beijing on Wednesday, to discuss the incident and the possible return of the American plane, still on the ground on China's Hainan Island.

High on China's agenda for the meeting is a demand that the United States stop reconnaissance flights near its coasts like the one that ended with the collision. The United States, which has temporarily suspended the flights, has said ending them altogether is out of the question.

The EP-3, the U.S. said, was on a level and steady flight plan over international waters at the time of the accident.

The United States wants the $100 million plane returned, in part to determine what, if any, secrets the Chinese may have gotten from it. The plane's crew destroyed much -- but not all -- of the sensitive equipment and data aboard before they were taken into custody.

CNN Correspondents Martin Savidge and Mike Boettcher contributed to this report.

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April 12, 2001
U.S. spy plane crew land in Guam
April 11, 2001
Bush reaction: 'That's good news'
April 11, 2001
Careful language breaks Washington-Beijing impasse
April 11, 2001
Crew's families thrilled with news of release
April 11, 2001

USCINCPAC Homepage
The Pentagon
U.S. Navy
Navy Fact File: EP-3E ORION (ARIES II) Aircraft
U.S. Department of Defense
Government of China (in Chinese)
U.S. Department of State
Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the U.S.A.
Government Information Office, Republic of China

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