Workers Preparing Navy Spy Plane for Return
June 20 -- Workers have begun preparing the stranded U.S. Navy spy plane for its return from China, and if everything goes according to plan, it could back on U.S. soil by July 11.
Over the weekend, a Lockheed-Martin "recovery team" arrived in China, and established a work schedule for the upcoming weeks.
They plan to dismantle the EP-3E Aries II spy plane and load it in pieces on two huge Russian-made Antonov 124 cargo planes.
Beijing and Washington engaged in a months-long standoff over the return of the plane, after it collided with a Chinese fighter jet off the coast of China on April 1.
The collision, which killed a Chinese pilot, and resulted in an 11-day detention of the 24 crew members of the EP-3E, caused the worst tensions between the two countries since NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in Yugoslavia in May 1999.
The countries finally agreed to transport the plane off the island using a pair of Russian charter planes after China refused to let American technicians repair the plane or let an American military aircraft land on Hainan Island.
The first Antonov arrived at Hainan island's Lingshui airbase on Saturday, and will bring the EP-3E's offloaded fuel, hydraulic fluid and oil to Kadena air base in Okinawa.
Break It Down
After the team of U.S. technicians arrived on Sunday, it moved the EP-3E to a specially prepared work site on the Lingshui airfield. The team is expected to number around 40 people when it is at full strength.
The technicians spent Monday and Tuesday draining the plane of fluids, and then began building shipping crates and and disassembling the airframe.
According to the work schedule, they will finish by July 4. By that time, they will have removed the plane's surface antennas, engines, landing gear and wings.
The parts will then be loaded onto the Antonov and returned to Okinawa.
On July 7, the aircraft fuselage will be loaded on to the Antonov after it returns from Kadena. On July 9, a second Antonov will arrive to transport everything else.
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