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CNN Live Saturday

News Conference to Be Given by Surveillance Crew

Aired April 14, 2001 - 12:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: And this shows the crew returning who were held for 11 days in China when they came back to Hawaii a couple of days ago. They have gone through 26 hours of pretty intense debriefings. And now they're getting ready to have a news conference in a few minutes that we'll bring live to you here on CNN.

And then they'll get on a plane. And they're heading home this afternoon to Whidbey Island, where they will have another homecoming celebration at home base. And we will bring that to you live as well here on CNN. Our coverage of that starts at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time, which is 3:00 Pacific.

The eyes on Hawaii's Hickam Air Force Base as that Navy flight crew, free from China's detention, does get ready for the final leg of their long journey home. We're glad you could stay with us on CNN Saturday. I'm Donna Kelley.

For those of you tuning in for CNN's "Page One," we are interrupting that broadcast to await for the start of the news conference at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. It signals the beginning of an end of a two-week ordeal for the 24 crew members of the Navy EP-3 surveillance plane, which made an emergency landing in China April 1 after colliding with a Chinese jet fighter.

CNN's national correspondent Martin Savidge is at Hickam as the crew gets ready to fly home to Washington state -- Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Donna. The sun now just peeking over the mountains here on the island of Oahu. There is a little bit of cloud cover in the area. And it has been raining. Well, check that, they say it never rains in Hawaii. They say it only sprinkles.

So it has been doing that. Everyone has their sprinkle coats standing by. But otherwise, the weather is expected to be very good for the departure of this crew. And it could be snowing, quite frankly, in the island of Hawaii and in this area and nobody would care because everybody is focused on the fact that they are finally on their journey home.

The debriefs, which have been quite intensive for the past few days, came to wrap up around 10:00 last night, pretty much on schedule. And that officially means that the mission for this crew is over. And it also means that the journey home can begin. It's anticipated that, as you mentioned, a news conference is going to start a few minutes from now. Among those who are expected to speak, there are really three representatives from the crew. Shane Osborn, who is the lieutenant, he was the mission commander. And many people call him a hero. He is going to be one of those speaking. He is from Norfolk, Nebraska.

We're also going to hear from Senior Chief Nicholas Mellos -- he is from Ann Arbor, Michigan -- and then from one of the three women that was amongst those 24 crew members. And that is Petty Officer Westbrook. She's from Rock Creek, Ohio.

This is the first real opportunity for the media to be able to ask questions of the crew members, to find out about their ordeal both in the air, on the ground in China, also what information may have been gleaned as a result of the debriefs. So it's being looked forward to by the media.

And then, of course, after that, the event with the families, what the crew members are looking for most. They will walk away from the microphones. They will wave to the crowd, board the C-9 aircraft in the background that you see, which has been named for today the City of Seattle, and then begin the six-hour journey to out there on Whidbey Island, which is about 50 miles north of Seattle, and the waiting arms of their family members, Donna.

KELLEY: Martin Savidge in Hawaii, we'll talk to you again shortly.

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