Spy plane pieces flown back to Hawaii

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (CNN) -- A disassembled Navy spy plane returned to a U.S. base in Hawaii on Tuesday after three months grounded on China's Hainan Island, a Navy spokesman said.

The cargo plane carrying pieces of the EP-3 Aries landed at Hawaii’s Hickam Air Force Base about 6:10 p.m. Tuesday (12:10 a.m. Wednesday EDT). Cmdr. John Fleming, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command, said the landing was a "totally routine operation.”

The entire plane did not make the trip to Hawaii, but the single biggest section did. A Russian-built Antonov-124 transport carried the disassembled aircraft across the Pacific.

“The largest portion is the fuselage," Fleming said. "It is not the aircraft in its entirety."

Other parts from the plane were flown to Kadena Air Base, on the Japanese island of Okinawa.

The damaged aircraft had been on Hainan since April 1, after making an emergency landing following a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter jet. The incident led to a tense standoff between the Bush administration and Beijing over the fate of the plane and its 24 American crew members. The crew was released after 11 days.

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The plane could have been repaired and flown back to the United States, but the Chinese government nixed the idea, saying the plane would have to be taken apart and flown out in pieces.

The EP-3 fuselage will next head to Dobbins Air Reserve Base, outside Atlanta, where it is scheduled to arrive Thursday morning. Pentagon officials said it will be reassembled and equipped with upgraded electronics at the Lockheed Martin plant located at the base in Marietta, Georgia.

Fleming said the parts flown to Japan may be eventually forwarded to Georgia if engineers determine they are still useable.

The 12-person EP-3 recovery team that disassembled the plane left from Sanya International Airport on Hainan on Tuesday afternoon and was scheduled to arrive in Hawaii later Wednesday.