Jane Perlez
On a sunny Sunday morning in April 2001, an American EP-3E Aries II surveillance aircraft was flying at 22,500 feet over international waters in the South China Sea when two Chinese F-8 fighter jets appeared. One of the F-8s, piloted by a lieutenant commander named Wang Wei, flew within ten feet of the spy plane’s left wing and saluted the crew before dropping back 100 feet.
Wang then approached a second time, flying within five feet and seeming to shout something at the American pilots. On a third advance, he got closer still—close enough to get pulled into one of the EP-3E’s propellers. The Chinese F-8 was sliced in half, killing Wang, whom state media would later refer to as a “revolutionary martyr.”
Shrapnel from the collision went flying in every direction, amputating the EP-3E’s nose, rupturing a wing tip, and damaging two of the four engines. The plane plummeted 8,000 feet in 30 seconds before the pilot, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Shane Osborn, managed to stabilize it.
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