Team finishes inspection of spy plane

The damaged plane is still on the tarmac in Hainan

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The team sent to determine if a grounded U.S. surveillance plane can be flown out of China completed its work on Friday and is preparing to head home with its report.

Pentagon officials told CNN that the Chinese military had provided the team with power after refusing to do so on Thursday.

Officials said the team, a civilian group from Lockheed Martin, spent several hours aboard the Navy EP-3E that made an emergency landing on Hainan Island three weeks ago after colliding with a Chinese fighter.

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The team was sent to determine if the plane can be repaired enough to fly back to the United States, the option preferred by the American side, or must be broken down and shipped back as the Chinese prefer.

The team had been frustrated on Thursday by the Chinese refusal to provide them with power.

"Powering up the airplane is absolutely essential to be able to understand which of the many systems (need repair)," said Navy spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley. "It's a mandatory first step."

U.S. officials had received assurances through the Chinese Foreign Ministry that China would provide the necessary power, Quigley said.

"There was an expectation that the power that we require to do this ... was to be provided by the Chinese," he told reporters. "We believed it was clear."

In explaining the apparent communications breakdown, Quigley noted it has been the Pentagon's experience that the Chinese government has an information flow problem. "Some things get through," he said. "Some things don't."

The inspection team was charged with determining the flight-worthiness of the EP-3E, damaged in an April 1 collision over the South China Sea that destroyed a Chinese jet fighter and killed the Chinese pilot.

The pilot of the crippled U.S. plane made an emergency landing on the island. The 24 crew members were detained there for 11 days before China released them.

The inspectors conducted an external assessment of the plane Wednesday, snapping photographs and inspecting components on the exterior of the plane -- all under the watchful eye of the Chinese, Quigley said.

But he emphasized the inspectors need to get inside the plane and power up its systems to "accomplish the mission they were sent over there to do, and that's to assess the damage to the plane."

At least one of the plane's four propeller engines was damaged

Quigley said the team is having to "choose their words carefully" when communicating back to U.S. officials because the Chinese are likely to be listening in on their conversations.

"The communications that are available to the assessment team are indeed non secure," he said.

He added that the team brought its own secure communications equipment, but it was "not acceptable for use by the Chinese."

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Chinese Foreign Ministry
U.S. Embassy of the People's Republic of China
U.S. Navy factfile: The EP-3
U.S. Dept of Defense
White House

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