Somebody has serious doubts as to whether or not the Chinese were to blame for the collision between the U.S. EP-3 and the Chinese F-8. C’mon, the Chinese jet’s top speed is 984 mph (1,595 km/h) faster than that of the U.S. propeller-driven plane (EP-3/F-8 facts), and it is much more maneuverable. That’s like saying a Yugo with its 1.1L 4-cylinder engine could not only catch up to my Ford with its 5.8L 8-cylinder engine, but could ram my truck without me having enough time to take evasive action, and it could do all this while off-roading.
The crew of the U.S. plane says they were on a “fixed course,” and did not cause the crash. The Chinese claim that the U.S. plane veered into the jet. How could a plane, with a wingspan over 3 times longer than the jet, get anywhere near the jet, much less collide with it, without the jet pilot ever knowing? If the other Chinese pilot witnessed the whole thing (and he had to have, or else how could the Chinese claim their side of the story?), why didn’t he warn the other pilot of the impending collision? It seems much more likely that the jet was buzzing the plane and just got a little too close–in which case, the plane would have little or no time to take evasive action, with its inferior speed and maneuverability.
I’m not dismissing the possibility that the U.S. could be to blame, but I do believe it’s way more likely that China is.