Navy Pilot: 'No Apology is Necessary'

April 14 -- A collision between a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet was the Chinese pilot's fault, the American pilot said in his first public comments since the accident.

"I'm here to tell you, we did it right," Lt. Shane Osborn said today of the conduct of his crew during the collision. "No apology is necessary on our part.

"The first thing I thought was this guy just killed us," Osborn added. "I remember looking up and seeing water."

China had demanded a full apology from the United States over the accident, and only released the crew after the United States said it was "very sorry" for the loss of the Chinese jet's pilot, Wang Wei, who is presumed dead. A search for Wang and his plane was called off today.

The families of the 24 men and women detained for by Chinese officials for 11 days on Hainan Island on Whidbey Island, Wash., welcomed back their loved ones at their home base at Whidbey Island, just north of Seattle.

"America should be proud of these 23 airmen; they did a great job," Osborn said, before he and his crew boarded a plane in Hawaii on his way back to the continental U.S.

‘Was it Harrassing? Yes.’

Speaking to the media after he and his crew were debriefed by American military officials in Hawaii, Osborn said Wang twice flew within three to five feet of the American plane as he gestured at it from his cockpit. He said Wang's jet hit the American plane on its third close approach.

"This [American] aircraft was straight, steady, holding altitude, heading away from Hainan Island on autopilot when this accident occurred," Osborn said.

"They weren't intending for this to happen," he said of the Chinese pilots. "No pilot is going to put himself intentionally in an out-of-control flight and have his plane ripped apart. … Was it harrassing? Yes."

Osborn said he struggled to control the plane after the Chinese jet punched holes in its bulkhead and damaged its propeller.

"The plane was in an almost inverted dive," Osborn said. "Once I got wings level, I was still very concerned and still didn't at that point think we were going to get the plane down."