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CNN Live At Daybreak

Spy Plane Once Detained by China to Land in United States

Aired July 05, 2001 - 07:01   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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: That U.S. spy plane sat on a runway at a military base on China's Hainan Island for more than three months before an agreement for its return was reached.

It is now about to touch down at a repair facility at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia, and that is where we find our Martin Savidge -- Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Colleen.

As you say, the plane's scheduled to arrive here about 10 minutes from now, and you are not going to see the EP-3, per se. What you will see is, instead, an Antonov-124. It is said to be the largest cargo plane in the world -- and carrying inside of the cargo bay of that aircraft will be the main fuselage of the EP-3.

As you know, the EP-3 had a collision over the South China Sea, off of the coast of China, back on April 1, and that sparked an international incident between the United States and China, the aircraft with its 24 U.S. Navy crewmembers forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan Island. The Chinese aircraft that ran into it was forced to go down in the sea, and the pilot was lost.

Now, the crewmembers remained on that Chinese island for some time. Eventually, there was a deal worked for their release -- and then came the hard part: trying to figure out if there could be a deal to release the aircraft. Eventually, China and the U.S. government did come to an agreement. However, it was determined that the aircraft would not be flown off the island, due to sensitivities, but instead would be broken into pieces, loaded on board the Russian cargo plane, and then brought back here to Atlanta.

This is the headquarters, by the way, of Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin is the original manufacturer of the EP-3, so the plane will be brought here, and in a hanger over several months, and costing several million dollars, it will put back together, and eventually put back into service. That whole prospect is expected to be done by the end of the year.

So right now, all eyes are focusing on the skies, to see a rather interesting end to what has been a drawn out saga of the EP-3.

The aircraft may not have made it back in one piece, but of course, the crew did and that is the most important aspect out of all of this.

The plane is expected to touch down here about 10 minutes from now -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Martin, you mentioned that the Russian cargo plane will be carrying the fuselage of the EP-3. Any other parts on board that plane, or where those other, smaller parts all sent somewhere else?

SAVIDGE: Well, the other smaller parts are being retrieved. All of the aircraft will be brought back to the United States. However, the engines and the wings, which were separated from the aircraft, have actually gone back into the Navy parts division and will be used as spares.

Instead, what will happen here is that there is a donor P-3 -- that is the same sort of aircraft -- that is sitting in a hangar, and they will basically be taking parts -- the wings, the engines -- from that donor plane and using those parts to rebuild the originally EP-3.

This EP-3 was built in 1969, so it's over 30 years old. It's not only an opportunity to put the plane back into service, but it's also an opportunity to update all the instruments that are on board, including the engines -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Understood. CNN's Martin Savidge, thanks.

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