Better a drone than anything with a human being aboard.
“Better a drone than anything with a human being aboard.”
Remembering the Hainan Island incident in 2001 when a Chinese manned jet collided with a US Navy EP-3E spy plane in international waters, forcing the manned US plane to land in Chinese territory. The 24 US servicemen aboard were detained by the Chinese for 10 days. The men were only released after the US sent China a letter stating it was “sorry” for the death of the Chinese pilot and “sorry” the US aircraft entered Chinese airspace. The Chinese interpreted the “letter of two sorries” as a formal apology while the US State Department declared it an expression of regret or sorrow. The US paid China for the dismantling and shipping of the downed aircraft and $34,000 for food and lodging for the US crew. The incident took place 10 weeks after the inauguration of G.W. Bush as president and was his first foreign relations crisis.