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CNN Saturday Morning News

Navy Crew to Leave Hawaii Shortly

Aired April 14, 2001 - 07:00   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is all over but the shouting, and that is what is expected when the crew of a Navy spy plane leaves Hawaii about five hours from now, and when the crew members arrive back home in Washington State about 12 hours from now.

The 24 crew members have spent two days being debriefed at Pearl Harbor. CNN national correspondent Martin Savidge is there. He joins us on the line from Honolulu -- Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles. It is just barely morning here in the Hawaiian Islands. It's a little after 1:00 in the morning.

According to the U.S. Navy, the debriefing schedule was maintained yesterday, and that means that the crew completed that debriefing process just about three hours ago, or about 10:00 p.m. It was about 14 hours of grueling testimony and more debriefing on the second day of that work.

And now the crew members are getting some rest, that's if they can get some rest. We're told by the Navy that they were very excited about the prospect of finally heading home, finally heading for their loved ones. So if they're actually getting some sleep, it's probably tainted by the fact that they're also very, very thrilled about finally being able to head back to Whidbey Island.

We know that the debriefing process went very well. There was obviously a lot of good information that was learned. There were 12 debriefing teams. It was an expedited process because the Navy wanted to make sure that these family members -- or that these crew members would get back to their family in time for Easter.

It's expected that they will make their way to Hickam Air Force Base, the same place where they arrived, only this time they're going to be departing. It's also scheduled that there will be a brief news conference. That's slated for around 6:45 in the morning.

Three crew members -- including possibly Shane Osborn, he is the pilot, the commander of that mission, he's also the man many people are referring to as a hero -- will express some words to the media, our chance to finally ask some questions as to what happened in the air and on the ground after the plane made the emergency landing.

So they hope by 7:20 to be wheels-up and on their way. It's a six-hour journey to make their way to Washington State, finally back to their home base and to the welcome and open arms of their family members and an entire community that waits for them -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Martin, just quickly before you get away, if you could give me a sense, what do we know about these debriefings? Secretary Rumsfeld said, well, they completed their checklist, indicating that much of the secrets that might have been on board that EP-3 would have been destroyed in some way.

Do we know what the story has been from the crew members at all from where you sit?

SAVIDGE: Well, the crew members have been describing, first of all, the very harrowing scene of the approach of the F-8, the Chinese fighter plane that intercepted. Reportedly it came into the U.S. EP-3 at an angle of about 45 degrees from below, and then sort of pulled up almost nose up directly in front of the aircraft. It's believed that the tail of the fighter plane clipped the propellers on the wing, and that in fact that the fighter plane broke up in air. It severely damaged the EP-3 that initiated about an 8,000-foot plunge after that.

We also know, as you mentioned, that they had a checklist of trying to destroy and delete data, that is, deleting dump and also physically trying to destroy equipment using hatchets and hammers on board the aircraft. They made their way through much of that list but not all of the list. They were obviously fighting an aircraft that was in difficulty, and they didn't have a lot of time before they touched down on the ground.

But the Navy says that they are very pleased with what they were able to accomplish under the conditions and the time frame that they had -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Martin Savidge joining us from Hawaii this morning.

And, of course, family members and friends anxiously await the crew's arrival at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington State, and CNN national correspondent Mike Boettcher is there, getting ready with the rest of them. Actually probably the rest of them are asleep right now.

But Mike is up. Good morning, Mike.

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm up, Miles, it's 4:00 in the morning here, and hopefully everyone is asleep now.

They've been preparing for this for about the last three days when those 24 crewmen from the EP-3 lifted off from Hainan Island, and the preparation shows. We're in this massive hangar at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. There's seating here for several hundred. They're expecting perhaps 10,000. We have a 40-by-60-foot American flag, a podium with leather chairs up there. The crew will sit in front. There's reserve seating for the family.

And all around this town of Oak Harbor, which is outside of the naval air station, there are signs up saying, "Welcome Home, DQ-1," which is the squadron that the EP-3 belongs to, which is Fleet Air Reconnaissance here at Whidbey Island.

So preparations will still be ongoing throughout the morning. And again, they're expecting 10,000 people. Now, after this ceremony, what is -- which is expected to last about 45 minutes, the crew members will see their families, be able to go on 30-day convalescence leave. But we're told that many of them want to get back in the air, especially the pilot, Lieutenant Shane Osborne. We're told he wants to fly almost immediately, although Navy officials here say they want to make sure the crew is ready, mentally prepared, so that probably won't happen soon.

But they're anxious to get back in the air, Miles.

O'BRIEN: In the air and back with friends and family members. So far the arrival ceremonies, if you will, have been a bit muted. It seems like this will be the exception to that rule.

BOETTCHER: Well, having been in -- I will have been in both places. In Honolulu, it was meant to be a rather low-key ceremony at Hickam Air Force Base. They didn't want to take any of the steam away from this big ceremony here at Whidbey Island. There were probably 200 or 300 people at Hickam, and it was a nice ceremony. But this is going to be a big, big celebration. All you have to do is look at all these chairs out here. They're expecting a lot of people, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, Mike Boettcher at Whidbey Island, thanks very much.

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