Wang Wei (pilot)

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Wang Wei (Simplified Chinese: 王伟; Traditional Chinese: 王偉; pinyin: Wáng Wěi) (April 6, 1968 - April 1, 2001) was a pilot in the People's Liberation Army Air Force. Wang was flying on April 1, 2001 when his Shenyang J-8 fighter jet and the wing of an American EP-3E surveillance plane collided about seventy miles off the coast of the Chinese island of Hainan. Wang ejected from the plane but was never found and was declared dead. The incident ended when the American government said it was 'very sorry' for the loss of Wang Wei and the Hainan Island incident. [1]

The Chinese claimed the U.S. surveillance plane rammed Wang's fighter, while the Americans claimed Wang flew dangerously close to the slower, larger reconnaissance plane.

The EP-3 was, by American admission, conducting reconnaissance aimed at Chinese territory [2]. EP-3s routinely make such flights very close to autonomous countries while remaining in international airspace; those autonomous countries thus monitor any such activity. ^[1] The American crew claims that the Chinese used aggressive intercepts that threatened the lives of the crew and were irresponsible. Photo documentation was provided two weeks after the incident of a pilot alleged to be Wang Wei flying dangerously close to a US reconnaisance plane. According to the EP-3 pilot, Lt. Shane Osborn, Wang's J-8 was sliced in half, with the front half visible to the EP-3 crew following the collision. Since neither country ever formally agreed on which plane struck first, the particulars remain unknown.

On April 14, the Chinese government ended its 83,000 kilometer search for the 32-year old pilot, declaring him missing and presumed dead. Later that day, a Navy Committee of the Communist Party of China declared him a martyr. He is viewed as a hero in and by the People's Republic of China.^[2]