The American/Chinese Spy Plane incident.

On April 1, 2001, an American P130 spy plane, flying in international waters off the coast of China was struck by a Chinese jet fighter. The Chinese plane, piloted by a fellow named Wong Wey, was inside the wing span of the slower, and much less maneuverable P130, and as the Chinese pilot jockeyed, and played around, a propeller struck the rear of the jet, just above the tail section, sending the jet into the ocean and inverting the P130, with a crew of 24 hurtling towards the ocean from 23,000 feet and approximately three times its normal flight speed. The Chinese pilot was killed, and the American pilot, Lt. Shane Osborne, struggled to set his craft upright with a damaged propeller, a missing nose cone, and several holes damaging the flightworthiness of his craft. The P130 plunged over 10,000 feet before control was regained, and a shook, but controlling pilot landed the plane on a Chinese island, the same island the Chinese jet had come from.

The crew of 24 were held for eleven days, and interrogated by the Chinese military, while on diplomatic fronts, the Chinese government wanted, and expected an apology indicating that the American plane was a fault for the death of their pilot and the loss of their aircraft. During the eleven days on interrogation, the pilot was repeatedly threatened, and told if he didn’t “confess”, he, or his family, would be killed along with his crew. Lt. Osborn had informed his crew that he would not confess to something he/they had not done, and after eleven days, newly elected President of the United States, George W. Bush issued a press release claiming that “The United States deeply regret the loss of life associated with the incident of April 1, 2001”.

The following day the crew were released and flown back to their home base. Lt. Shane Osborn won the Navy Flying Cross, an honor of unbelievable proportions when in command of what he described as “a flying bus”, the P130.

The Chinese government insisted in dismantling the aircraft (what a surprise) and then mailed a bill to the United States of $1,000,000 and some change to cover their expenses. The United States House of Representatives voted not to pay the bill.

China was admitted into the World Trade Organization the following June.