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US Team Finishes Inspection of Aircraft in China
A team of American technicians completed their inspection of a US Navy spy plane in China on Friday with full cooperation from the Chinese military, the Pentagon said.
``All the necessary inspections have been completed. They (the team) were given unrestricted access to the aircraft and the necessary support to complete the inspections,'' Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters.
The four-engine EP-3E surveillance plane has stayed in China for more than a month at a military base on Hainan Island, where it made an emergency landing on April 1 following a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter jet.
Whitman said the team was expected to fly to Hawaii from Hainan on Saturday where they would provide a complete report on damage to the EP-3E to the US military's Pacific Command.
Defense officials said they did not have a complete report from the team on the damage to the plane, but the officials have previously said they expect the aircraft will have to be disassembled and shipped home. The US demand that the aircraft be returned is expected to be discussed at a proposed meeting of a bilateral US-China maritime safety commission. No date has been agreed for that meeting, but it is expected to be held soon, according to Pentagon officials.
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