Chinese jets buzz US spy plane
WASHINGTON - Two Chinese jet fighters came within 45 m of an American reconnaissance aircraft near China in the first such incident since a collision last year between another US spy plane and a Chinese jet.
The close encounter occurred in international airspace near the Chinese coast north of Taiwan on Monday, officials said yesterday.
Two Chinese F-7 interceptors flew parallel to a US Navy P-3 surveillance aircraft and then, for a few minutes flew very close to the propeller-driven plane, The Washington Times reported.
On April 1 last year, a Chinese F-8 interceptor collided with a US spy plane and crashed into the South China Sea, killing the pilot.
I suspect the Chinese does this all the time just as the U.S. listens to China.
It’s only when hot-dog Chinese pilots try to show off their jet fighter skills by challenging a prop plane that there is trouble.
My dad used to be a fighter pilot for the states. He hopped on several of these ‘listening’ missions way back when against Russian; it was a regular thing (daily? weekly?)
He said almost every time it was the same; they’d have two jets begin ‘escorting’ them. Every once in a while, you’d get some dumb@ss playing chicken, but for the most part, the pilots would just wave and show pictures from the latest edition of Playboy to each other…
Either the Chinese fighter jets are lousy against a prop plane, or it was shot down by another US plane as a valid target given the PLAAF hostile engagement. As the Chinese misbehaviors in the past have allegedly included abusing their sacred diplomatic immunity privileges for a military cover of their Embassy as a Serbian signal relay base, co-called “accidents” with the Chinese are more often “incidents” called “accidents”.
quote:Originally posted by wwwright:
[QB
Is there cover for the P-3? It does make sense that the U.S. would send a prop plane out alone against Chinese figher pilots.[/QB]
Does or doesn’t? The fact is that the recon planes are flying in INTERNATIONAL airspace and therefore should not have to worry about fighters. But then again we’re talking about the Chinese here and so all bets are off…
Doesn’t make sense. I said I shouldn’t laugh while typing.
You are right. It would only make sense if you expected no trouble because you are in international waters. I’m just curious if the P-3 is the only plane out there.
Maybe the Chinese don’t want to mess with the U.S. cover, so they buzz the prop plane.
From what I gather, this is just how it works. US sends single plane, chinese send a couple of fighters, US plane does its thing (in int’l waters, of course), everybody goes home. I’d imagine this exact scenario has been going on maybe every week for years.
This time, some Chinese fighter pilot got too big of an ego, wanted to play the game of “lets see how close I can fly to them and scare them, haha” (which happens once in a while), and screwed up. If you know anything about military planes, there is absolutely no way a ten-seat prop plane can maneuver into a jet; that’s like a big rig trying to hit a scooter, but only if the big rig can’t go over 10mph.
The fighter pilot that died is now a national hero; I think his name is now ‘Great revolutionary hero who wisely taught the Great Motherland that our pilots need more than ten hours of training before they fly.’ (I’m being facetious)
That’s why I was laughing.
I remember the original analogies of a Porsche/Ferrari driver complaining that an 18 wheel Mack truck wasn’t playing chicken fairly.
The PRC doesn’t consider any area “between” the mainland and Taiwan or the Spratleys as being a part of international airspace. There is also an international treaty on aircraft which treats the planes as “territory” of the country of ownership.
You can fight the federal ‘special territorial jurisdiction’ of US-owned airplanes and even its satellites under 18 USC 7 “Special Maritime and Territorial Jurisdiction,” if you are really that curious or just want to mount a paper chase with the Flying Paper Tigers.
But if I’m not mistaken, this incident took place no where close to Taiwan; over by Hainan. The area it occurred in is not disputed by anyone as being not int’l waters…
Is my grammar getting worse, or is … oh, it’s Friday.