Abstract
While the US DoD posted a clip on the internet showing a Russian SU-24 attack aircraft conducting a simulated attack on USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea flying just 30 feet away from the destroyer, speculation arose whether the Chinese will act similarly against US forces in the SCS. But the Chinese actually did so 15 years back. The incident occurred on April 1, 2001 in international airspace some 112 kms off China’s Hainan Island when a US Navy EP-3E turboprop reconnaissance aircraft and a Chinese F-8II jet fighter collided. The US EP-3E made an emergency landing of the damaged plane on China’s Lingshui airfield. China’s F-8II crashed into the sea with the pilot. China detained 24 military crew members of the US EP-3E for 11 days. China claimed the US EP-3 caused the accident but the US assessment was that the PLA pilot, executing a close passes in an apparent attempt to impress or intimidate the EP-3 crew, made a fatal error in judgment.
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