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CNN Saturday Morning News

Navy Crew Anxious to Return Home

Aired April 14, 2001 - 09:02   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Back now to Hawaii, where two days of debriefing that released Navy surveillance crew has wrapped up. China this morning announced it has ended the search for the F-8 pilot involved in the collision two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the American service men and women who spent 11 days detained in China are ready and anxious to head home.

CNN national correspondent Martin Savidge joins us live now from Hickam Air Force Base at Pearl Harbor. Hi, Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Morning to you, Kyra.

And the 24 crew members have a plane to catch this morning. In fact, that plane. It is sitting here prepped and ready for them. That is, in military jargon, a C-9, known to everybody else as a DC-9, and it is prepared to take off around 7:20 this morning, that is, of course, Hawaii time. And it'll be winging those crew members off to Whidbey Island in the Seattle -- or in the Seattle area.

It is -- by the way, the name of the aircraft is "The City of Seattle" because the Whidbey Naval Air Station is about 50 miles north of that city.

It's reported out now that the debriefs have come to an end. Officially it means that the mission of those 24 crew members has come to an end. And there was a lot of very valuable information that came out of those debriefs that began, actually, Thursday.

And the information that is coming out is greatly now disputing the claims by the Chinese government that this was an incident directly caused by that U.S. spy plane. Instead, it is being depicted now by the U.S. government as carelessness on the part of the Chinese F-8 plane that was shadowing the surveillance crew.

Those debriefs were quite extensive. They went for about 12 hours on the first day, 14 hours on the second day. They finished up at around 10:00 last night. Individually, the crew members were debriefed by the 12 debriefing teams, and their sessions would last at least an hour at a time. Then there was a break for the crew members. We're told that during those breaks, the favorite thing for all of the crew was to pick up the phone and call home. Well, today no phone calls are needed. They will be at home, Whidbey Island. They're expected to arrive there later this afternoon local time. And you can anticipate it is going to be a joyous reunion, the gates of that naval air station being open for the public. Maybe 5,000 to 10,000 people are expected to be on hand, opening the arms of the community and certainly the open arms of their families to welcome them back.

After that, 30 days convalescence leave, allowing time for the crew members to catch up -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, and relax. Martin Savidge live from Pearl Harbor, thanks so much.

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