Pentagon claims Chinese are to blame for all

Blame for a collision between an American surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter is fully the Chinese pilot's, claims the Pentagon following first debriefing sessions with the 24 crew that returned to the US on Thursday. According to sources from the US Department of Defence, CNN television says, the four-engined American reconnaissance aircraft was on the autopilot, flying along a straight line and without changing altitude, when a Chinese fighter began to approach it at an angle of 45 degrees. The Chinese plane flew under the left wing of the reconnaissance aircraft and then upped its nose, slowing down. As military sources told The Washington Times, the Chinese pilot tried to carry out a manoeuvre during which a fast flying fighter pops up from below before a slower turbo-prop American aircraft. But it in its turn gets into the turbulence created by the exhaust of jet engines. Yet in performing that manoeuvre the fighter's tail brushed against the extreme left propeller. The collision resulted in the Chinese fighter plane falling apart in mid-air, with its fragments hitting the nose part of the American aircraft, which disabled a starboard turboprop engine. But no explanation is given why the spy plane, without authorisation from Chinese authorities, made an unsanctioned landing at a Chinese air force base and even offered no apology to Beijing.

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