A U.S. defense official said Chinese planes began flying extremely close to U.S. surveillance planes late last fall, prompting the United States to raise the issue with the Chinese in December. Chinese pilots have been coming as close as 50 feet to U.S. planes, one American official said, although the distance between the planes before Sunday's collision was not known.
Vivid girl Racquel Darrian
Following the collision, which occurred in international airspace 70 nautical miles southeast of Hainan Island, the American plane plummeted 8,000 feet before the pilot succeeded in righting it. At that point, the Western sources said, the U.S. crew began destroying sensitive software and data in the technology-laden aircraft.
Vivid girl Racquel Darrian