CAL Captain's China Rescue Saga
April 12, 2001

By Captain Guy Greider, Continental Airlines

     Since the mid-air collision on April 1,2001 between a U.S. Navy EP-3
surveillance aircraft
   and a Chinese jet fighter, I had watched the news with mild interest.
This was mostly due
to the proximity of Guam to China.

I never dreamed that I would play a role in this intensely watched
international drama.
            Somewhere in the negotiations between the United States and the Chinese
Governments, it
was decided that a civilian aircraft should be sent to retrieve the 24
crew members being
           detained on Hainan Island, China.A call was made to Continental Airlines
headquarters in
            Houston, Texas. Continental was chosen because of its Guam base and its
ability to launch
    this kind of operation at a moments notice. From there, the operation
took shape through
the tireless efforts of many people working behind the scenes in a
coordinated effort

between the airline, the military, and the State Department.

           On Saturday, April 7, 2001, I received a call at home from Captain Ralph
Freeman,
           Continental Micronesia Director of Flight Operations. Ralph told me that
the military
         wanted to charter one of our jets to conduct a rescue mission and asked
if I would be one
of the crew members. I said yes without hesitation.

Later we were told that we would need to get passport pictures taken in
case the Chinese
Government required visas. We got the required photos and were under the
impression that
we would leave immediately. However, the negotiations slowed over the
demand from the
Chinese that the U.S. issue an apology that the U.S. was unwilling to
give. Meanwhile, the
Continental crew remained on call 24 hours a day. Our Uniforms were laid
out and our bags
were packed and waiting by the door.

On Wednesday evening April 11, 2001, at about 630 PM Ralph called again
to say that the
two parties were very close to an agreement to release the U.S. crew and
to come to the
airport. Upon arrival, we were given a briefing sheet listing the
information that we
would need to conduct the flight.

We would carry a Repatriation Team consisting of Navy, Marine Corps, and
Air Force
specialists, 14 people in all. Doctors, psychologists, and
communications people with lots
of gear showed up on the ramp near the airplane, ready to board. They
were all dressed in
casual civilian clothes.

The 155 seat jet was fitted with 2 full stretcher kits bolted in over
rows of seats
complete with Oxygen tanks and I.V. bottles. They did not know the
condition of the 24
detained crew members and they were not going to take any chances. They
were prepared.

When our crew was fully assembled, it consisted of 11 people. 2 pilots
to fly the jet and
an extra to provide relief because of the extensive flight time
involved. They were
Captain Tom Pinardo, Captain Pierre Frenay and I. We also carried 5
very experienced
Flight Attendants.

                  They were Debbie Percell, Susanne Hendricks, Jean Tang, Cynthia Iverson,
and Beverly
             Haines. Our 2 onboard mechanics were Peter Lum and Julius Aguilo. Our
load planner was Mike Torres.

      At about 930 PM we received a call asking that we arrive in China no
earlier than 600 AM,
    just about sunrise. It was obvious that the entire exchange would be

photographed and theywanted day light conditions.

         We estimated that a 215 AM departure from Guam would put us on the
ground in Haikou
           precisely at 600 AM local China time. (2 hours earlier than Guam) Some
of us just stayed
    on the plane, others accepted the company's invitation to come to the
Continental
Presidents Club, a local VIP lounge at the airport to try to get some
rest. It was
difficult to get any rest with our much anticipated mission so near.

By 100 AM the pilots were back in the briefing room going over the
weather, flight plan,
       fuel requirements and everything else that goes into a flight. Again, we
loaded up theairplane and finally departed Guam International at
precisely 215 AM.

       The stretcher kits and medical gear were not the only special additions
to the airplane.
     The company had loaded a special file into the navigation database of
the flight
                management computer (FMC). This allowed us to gain access to navigation
data needed to
operate in this part of China, which is not in our normal route
structure. The
           Repatriation Team carried sophisticated equipment to communicate with
the military and
     government officials that would monitor our progress throughout the
flight.

The route of flight took us straight west from Guam toward the
Philippines along the G467
               airway. About half way across we turned north directly toward Hong Kong.
This routing was
         designed to avoid flying through Taiwanese airspace, something that the
Chinese could consider offensive.

                    Approaching the Chinese coastline, we contacted Hong Kong radar control. After
establishing radar contact with us, the controller gave us a short cut
to expedite his
traffic flow. This was bad because it cut off considerable distance and
would result in
arriving too early. We compensated by slowing our airspeed until the
computer again
estimated a 600 AM arrival. The instant we turned across the short cut,
the inter phone
rang from the back of the plane. They wanted to know why we had deviated
from the flight
plan. We told them it was due to Hong Kong traffic and that we had
adjusted our airspeed.
We were still on schedule.

Now we were approaching our destination, Haikou airport on Hainan
Island. Captain Pierre
Frenay was at the controls. The weather was 2000 ft overcast with 5
miles visibility and
light winds out of the east. Pierre made an ILS approach to and landed
on runway 9. Haikou
airport is much the same as many other airports in the world that serve
jet transport
aircraft. It has an 11,000-ft runway with standard lighting and
navigational facilities.
We touched down at 607 AM. The first early morning light was beginning
to illuminate the
sky. The local air traffic controller instructed us to follow a vehicle
that was beside us
on an adjacent taxiway. He led us to a remote part of the airport, away
from the main
terminal buildings.

Once we had parked and shut down the engines, we saw many uniformed
Chinese military
personnel and vehicles. They did not appear to have weapons. Portable
stairs were brought
up to the airplane and we opened the main cabin door.

The Repatriation Team that we carried had been briefed to close down all
of their
communications equipment prior to landing and put it away.

They were also briefed to remain in their seats in a non-threatening
posture in case the
Chinese military came aboard. The first and only person to come aboard
was an Air China
employee. He spoke English and was to act as the translator between our
group and the
Chinese military. He instructed us to have everyone fill out both
arrival and departure
documents. He collected all of our passports and left the aircraft.

Before he left, he said that only one person at a time would be allowed
to deplane. Peter
Lum, one of our mechanics went down to supervise the re-fueling and
servicing of the
airplane. When that was complete, I went down to do the walk-around
inspection. I did this
rather slowly because I wanted to have a chance to look around. While I
was out on the
ramp, a skirmish developed between people who were trying to climb a
wall to photograph
our aircraft and the Chinese police. Somehow, CNN managed to carry our
arrival and
departure live.

Once the airplane was serviced and ready to go, we looked anxiously
around for any sign of
the buses that carried our 24 detainees. Before that could happen
however, we had a
problem to deal with. A U.S. military General who was on the scene to
assist in the
transfer came storming up the stairs and demanded to speak with the
Captain. Tom Pinardo
responded. The General said that the entire mission was now in jeopardy.
A document called
the general declaration, which is standard on all international flights,
had listed the
destination as Haikou, China R.O.C. The initials ROC stand for Republic
of China which is
.. Taiwan! The Chinese were very upset over this. Tom quickly crossed
out ROC and
replaced it with P.R.O.C., the Peoples Republic of China. This seemed to
satisfy them.

With the airplane ready to go and the paperwork complete, 2 buses pulled
up and the 24
U.S. service men and women saluted as they bolted up the stairs and
settled into the back
of the plane. When the last one was aboard, our passports were returned
to us. The stairs
were withdrawn, the cabin door closed, and we started the engines and
departed. It was my
turn at the controls.

Once airborne heading straight south we broke through the clouds into
the bright sunshine.
Pierre made a PA announcement that we were over international waters and
leaving Chinese
airspace. A great cheer rose from the back of the airplane. A short
while later we
received a telephone patch over the HF radio from Mr. Joseph Prueher,
U.S. Ambassador to
China. He wanted to speak with Lt. Shane Osborne the 26 year old EP-3
Aircraft Commander.
Lt. Osborne came to the cockpit and put on a headset. The Ambassador
told him that on
behalf of the President of the United States and the entire country he
wanted to say
welcome home . He went on to say how proud he was of everything the crew
had done from
their airmanship in saving the lives of the crew and aircraft, to their
conduct on the
ground once they had been detained. They had truly done an excellent
job.

After his conversation with the Ambassador, Lt. Osborne stayed in the
cockpit for quite a
while and told us his story pilot to pilot of what had happened during
and immediately
after the mid-air collision with the F-8 Chinese fighter. The fighter
came up under their
left wing. This pilot made 2 very close passes previously that day. He
apparently
misjudged the intercept and his vertical stabilizer struck the outboard
left propeller on
the EP-3. The U.S. plane was in straight and level flight on auto pilot
at the time. The
fighter broke into two pieces and plunged into the sea. The U.S. plane
rolled to the left
almost inverted, the pilot lost control and they began to lose
altitude. The Chinese
fighter had raked back across the fuselage and knocked off the nose cone
causing the
aircraft to buffet wildly. When the nose cone departed the aircraft it
collided with and
damaged the number 4 propeller on the right wing. The collision
punctured the pressure
vessel and the EP-3 depressurized. The collision also knocked off the
pitot tubes
eliminating airspeed and altitude indications in the cockpit. It also
knocked off the
forward bracket for the HF radio antenna. The antenna then flew back
and wrapped around
the tail.

We were almost upside down and totally out of control Osborne told us.
The dive continued
and some crew members donned parachutes. At about 8,000 feet, Osborne
regained straight
and level flight. They considered ditching the aircraft in the South
China Sea but
dismissed that option because it was certain to result in loss of life.
They headed for
the nearest land, Hainan Island. The U.S. crew now faced the most
difficult landing of
their lives.

They made numerous mayday, mayday, mayday radio calls on internationally
recognized
emergency frequencies. The Chinese did not respond. Somehow, Osborne and
co-pilot managed
to get the airplane on the ground.

Their next immediate task was to destroy the sensitive electronic
surveillance equipment
aboard the EP-3. Meanwhile the Chinese military had approached the
aircraft in vehicles
and were yelling at them through loudspeakers to deplane. The next 11
days would be a very
uncertain time for them.

When we met them, they told us that they had not been abused or
mistreated. Their food was
adequate and plentiful. Sort of like eating in a Chinese restaurant
every day one of them
said. On the forth day, they got some coffee. On the fifth day, some
cokes were provided.
          The crew did not know what kind of transport would be provided for their
return home. They
     were pleased and surprised to see a chartered airliner from the United
States.

The rest of the flight from Haikou to Anderson AFB on Guam was
uneventful. During the 5
hour flight the crew was treated to the movie Men of Honor and enjoyed
a first class
meal. We did not know it at the time but our landing at Anderson AFB was
aired live on
national television. We taxied to the parking ramp at Anderson where
many people had
turned out to welcome all of us home. Individuals and families with
kids, both military
and civilian waved American flags and cheered, showing support for the
returning U.S. spy
plane crew. Once the 24 U. S. crewmembers and the military Repatriation
Team had deplaned
at Anderson, they immediately boarded waiting buses and were whisked
away.

The Continental crew then became the object of intense media attention.
CNN, MSNBC, ABC,
NBC, Reuters and various print media interviewed us. A dizzying swirl
of attention after
a very long day. We were happy, tired, and pleased that the mission was
so successful as
Tom flew the last segment, a 10-minute flight back to Guam International
Airport. This
time our passengers included Bill Meehan, President of Continental
Micronesia, Guam
Governor Carl Gutierrez, Lieutenant Governor Bordallo and others.

We thought the day was just about over but we had one more surprise in
store. After
landing, we were given a hero's welcome of our own. The airport fire
department was in
place to give us the traditional water cannon salute, a rainbow arch of
water for us to
taxi under. A reception was held at the gate with food, balloons,
commemorative plaques,
and more media interviews with the local television station.

This was very heady stuff. As I look back on this one of a kind
operation. It could not
have happened without the tremendous effort and skills of many people
working behind the
scenes. Bill Meehan, Mitch Dubner at the SOCC in Houston, Tom Rinow at
the CMI SOCC,
         Captain Ralph Freeman, CMI Director of Flight Operations, and many
others had major rolls
       in coordinating this flight. It was accomplished through teamwork. The
fact that it came
off without a hitch is testimony to how well all these people did their
jobs.

        The exposure that Continental Airlines received over this is a marketing
managers dream
         come true. We will be remembered by millions of people as the company
who conducted the
                     China Rescue Mission. This was a proud day for Continental Airlines and for America.