In reference to the collison with the Chinese plane and holding our pilots hostage...

"Our approach has been to keep this accident from becoming an international incident."

DUUUUUH!

-- (incident+international@=international.incident), April 04, 2001

Answers

If Dubya says it was an accident, you can bet your sweet ass it wasn't. This photo clearly shows that the pilot intentionally tipped his wing and used his propeller to saw the Chinese jet in half.

-- (chinese@chop.suey), April 04, 2001.

"Sittin on his wing." can get touchy while trying not to stall. Hope they find the kid but what the hell. He'd probably get a quick courtmartial and bullet behind the ear for losing the plane.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), April 04, 2001.

This photo clearly shows that the pilot intentionally tipped his wing and used his propeller to saw the Chinese jet in half. The chinese plane would have had to be right under the winf of the us aircraft and raised up in altitude to have been chopped by those props. No pilot of a prop job would purposly destroy his ability to fly by incurring damage to the props of his aircraft. Use them to cut the spy plane in half-what lack uf understanding of aircraft function it takes to say something like that. The ability to control the angle of the props is too important to the flight capability of an aircraft to allow anything to be touched by them, Even hitting a bird in flight can damage them to the point where the aircraft looses important flight and control abilities. It becomes second nature for the pilots to protect the props, as they are their life-lines. And by the nature of the shape and the props themselves, the damage you see could not have been done in the air, it would greatly have effected the ability of the aircraft to manuever, they probably would have completely crumbled and fallen off in the air had what the chinese said were true.

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), April 04, 2001.

They did not ram the Chink Jet! That's the damndest thing I've heard in a long time. Also both No. 2 and 3 inboards were damaged which tells me the blades were struck by flying debris from the nose of the Lockheed or from the Chinese jet. And they were immediately feathered and shut down to minimize the tremendous vibration which certainly developed with the loss of blade length. A two inch loss from just one blade can lead to engine mount failure followed by separation of the turbo-prop engine from the aircraft. With only two powerplants available, the crew would have been unable to continue their mission and would have had to land at the nearest location be it enemy or friendly. I'm also a spray pilot with 9000 hrs. of round engine radial and turbine time so I know what the fuck I'm talkin about.

-- Boswell (cjseed@webtv.net), April 04, 2001.

Tee hee hee! Cherri sure is gullible.

-- lol (chopped@in.half), April 04, 2001.

Actually Mr. Boswell, this aircraft will fly quite well on two powerplants. I have logged many hours in the P3 Orion so I know of what I speak. However, I suspect that this unit had other problems that resulted in the emergency landing. Notice that the props in the above picture have not been feathered. Also, with all of the naval assets in the vicinity a ditching should have been an option.

As you aviators know, the air gets real unstable when two plane get too close to each other. I can’t help but wonder if the PRC really lost that jet.

-- So (cr@t.es), April 04, 2001.

-- (another@pic.ture), April 04, 2001.

Good point Socrates. Given the circumstances of blade imbalance, it seems strange that they chose not to feather whether under power or just windmilling. And if close to maximum gross weight which a imagine they were as they were stuffed to the nuts with electronics, two powerplants turning and burning might not have been sufficient maintain altitude under some conditions. My original point was the damage probably was caused by flying debris rather than a direct and purposeful collision on the part of the spy plane. Nobody has ever done that except Jap Kamakazes!

-- Boswell (cjseed@webtv.net), April 04, 2001.