I apologize in advance for being completely insensitive -- after all, the guy is dead. And I’m glad that the US personnel involved are no longer being held in durance vile in China.
The facts of the recent US-China midair collision, as I understand them, are thus. The US plane was spying on China while flying over a part of the South China Sea where access is disputed. The us claims that international waters begin 12 miles from the Chinese coast; China claims a 200-mile territory. (I wonder how the US feels about waters 12 miles off our own coastline!) The Chinese pilot may have been harrying the US plane, flying way too close. (I’m only a private pilot, and everyone involved in the accident has a lot more flying hours than I do, but I’d say if you’re not intending a dogfight, or having both planes intentionally fly in formation, then anything under a mile is too close.)
Given all that....am I the only person who is amused that the Chinese pilot’s name was Wong Wei? Say it out loud, and remember that the man was a pilot, if you don’t see the humor.
Posted by dichroic at April 12, 2001 11:31 AM