All content in this article is based on official and reliable sources, and the specific information is detailed at the end of the article
Preface
On 1 April 2001, an EP-3 reconnaissance plane of the US Navy intruded into the mainland's territorial airspace, and in order to defend the mainland's sovereignty over the territorial waters, mainland pilot Wang Wei flew a Jian-8II fighter plane and collided with it over 70 nautical miles southeast of Hainan Island.
Since then, every day we have been looking forward to Wang Wei returning in the J-8II fighter with the number "81192", but Wang Wei's words "I can't return, please move on" lingered in the ears of many people.
In fact, in the 14 days after the incident, the mainland dispatched nearly 100,000 soldiers and civilians to participate in the search and rescue of Wang Wei, but nothing was found, and Wang Wei, whose whereabouts are unknown, was finally confirmed to be a sacrifice.
However, according to Wang Wei's comrades-in-arms, he saw Wang Wei's parachute open and successfully parachuted at that time, why did 100,000 soldiers and civilians search for 14 days and still found no trace of Wang Wei?
Plane collision incident
Wang Wei has been determined to serve the country since he was a child, especially to be a pilot to the extent of obsession, when there was an air force airport near his hometown, and the planes that came and went made Wang Wei's "blue sky dream" more and more profound.
His parents once recalled that whenever a plane flew in the sky, Wang Wei would immediately run out of the door to look, even in the process of eating, he would go out to look until there was no trace.
Perhaps since then, Wang Wei has been working hard for the goal of "becoming a pilot" until 1986, when the Air Force Flight School went to Huzhou to recruit pilots, which made Wang Wei energetic.
Perhaps because he was afraid of his parents' obstruction, he hid from his parents and applied for the pilot exam, until his parents naturally did not blame anything, and Wang Wei spent 4 years in the flight academy in Changchun.
In his more than ten years of flying career, Wang Wei has gained the most, according to the memories of the students of the same period, although the flight equipment is constantly updated, Wang Wei learns very quickly, and is always the first to fly solo.
In the same group of pilots, Wang Wei was always the first to fly the most advanced domestic fighter plane, and he was the first to fly 1,000 hours, becoming an "all-weather" first-class pilot, and he had performed the most important tasks.
Although he can still do this is good enough, Wang Wei has always been pursuing to be more excellent, and even from the bottom of his heart, he is ready to sacrifice for the country at any time.
On January 1, 1989, Wang Wei wrote a "desperate letter" to his wife Ruan Guoqin, on which Wang Wei drew a tombstone with his name written on it, and he wanted to tell his wife in this way that he was ready to sacrifice at any time.
The reason why I wrote this letter was because a student in Wang Wei's unit died during flight training not long ago, which made Wang Wei deeply touched at that time, and he didn't want to live up to the people who loved him and the people he loved, so he gave his wife a "preventive shot" in advance.
In Ruan Guoqin's impression, this man is considerate and righteous, how much she hopes that Wang Wei can always be by her side, but Ruan Guoqin knows that in addition to loving her, Wang Wei also loves the country deeply.
Wang Wei couldn't go home every day because he was busy with work, Ruan Guoqin also understood and told Wang Wei that no matter how late it was, she would definitely wait for Wang Wei to go home.
Just one day before the plane collision incident, Wang Wei also made a phone call with Ruan Guoqin and said: "I am on duty today and cannot go home." No one expected that this would be the final farewell between Wang Wei and his wife.
On 1 April 2001, the US Navy's EP-3 reconnaissance plane took off from an air base and intruded into the airspace 70 nautical miles southeast of China's Hainan Island for reconnaissance, and was discovered by the People's Liberation Army of the mainland.
Then Wang Wei and Zhao Yu piloted two J-8 planes from the base to the location of the incident to carry out tracking and monitoring missions, according to Zhao Yu's recollection, the visibility that day was greater than 10 kilometers, so about seven minutes after takeoff, they saw the US military plane.
At that time, the US military frequently conducted low-altitude reconnaissance in the mainland's Hainan Island area, which had a great impact on the mainland's security interests, and Wang Wei carried out similar missions more than once.
After the US plane discovered Wang Wei and Zhao Yu, it adjusted the direction of the nose and prepared to leave, but in order to find out this target that endangered national security, Zhao Yu and Wang Wei followed the turn and flew at the same speed of about 400 meters in the same direction as the US plane.
However, after ignoring our warnings many times, the US plane suddenly made a big move and crashed into the plane piloted by Wang Wei, smashing the vertical tail of the plane piloted by Wang Wei into pieces, and then crashing into Wang Wei's fighter plane and destroying it.
However, without our permission, the US military plane that deliberately collided with the plane again intruded into China's territorial airspace and landed at the Lingshui military airfield on Hainan Island on the mainland.
For a time, the incident of the US military plane colliding with the mainland plane became the focus of attention of all the people in the world, and China and the United States began to confront each other, and at the same time, our side began to carry out search and rescue work against Wang Wei, but the attitude of the United States really made people angry.
American attitude
Judging from the facts, it is unforgivable for the US military to intrude into the mainland's airspace without authorization, ignore our side's repeated warnings, and deliberately collide with and destroy the mainland's fighter plane.
Therefore, the mainland strongly condemns this act of the US military, demands that they apologize to us and Wang Wei's family for this act, and should immediately stop a series of reconnaissance activities on the mainland.
At the same time, the mainland began to organize rescuers to search and rescue the location of Wang Wei's plane, but the United States did not put Wang Wei's life and safety first at such a moment.
According to Guo Yanyan, then commander of the South China Sea Fleet Air Force, after the US plane landed at the Lingshui military airfield without our permission, the loudest shout in the United States was not to save people, but to propose to destroy the EP-3 reconnaissance plane in an attempt to conceal their crimes.
The moment the US reconnaissance plane landed at the Lingshui military airfield, the mainland inspected and seized the plane, and interrogated and monitored its crew.
At the same time, people in mainland China also spontaneously organized protests, demanding that the United States apologize for the incident, express its condemnation of the United States' malicious collision with our plane, and express condolences and grief over what happened to Wang Wei.
However, instead of apologizing and compensating for the incident, the United States has always insisted that it was the mainland fighter plane that deliberately harassed the US plane, demanded that the mainland return the US plane, and demanded the release of the crew members of the plane.
However, after many efforts and negotiations on our side, the two sides finally reached an agreement on April 11, and the US side admitted its mistake and expressed regret and formal apology for what happened to Wang Wei.
The crew was released and agreed to return the reconnaissance plane, and the EP-3 reconnaissance plane, which was dismantled to pieces, was finally transported back to the United States in more than three months.
This incident also became an important turning point in the relations between the two countries, which stimulated the patriotic feelings of the people of the whole country, especially in the process of searching and rescuing Wang Wei after the incident.
Search and rescue after the incident
After Wang Wei's plane crashed into the sea on 1 April, the mainland People's Liberation Army (PLA) immediately began rescue work, and the Zhang Jianjun group of a certain navy's air-ice transport plane regiment rushed to the sea area where the incident occurred in only 20 minutes to carry out rescue work.
At the same time, the helicopter of a certain regiment of the HNA also urgently took off from a nearby airport to participate in the rescue work; in addition, the warships of the mainland's Yulin Military Port were displayed, and immediately several missile frigates and submarine lifeboats were dispatched to search and rescue the wreckage of Wang Wei and the Jian-8.
In this way, from the sky to the sea, from the air force to the navy, from day to night, a huge search and rescue team was formed and put into work, with reconnaissance planes, helicopters, transport planes, destroyers, frigates, and submarines busy on the vast sea.
During the day, the soldiers withstood the high temperature of more than 30 degrees, stared at all the movements on the sea with wide eyes, and did not let go of even a small floating object on the sea.
The nearby fishermen were also worried about Wang Wei, they spontaneously stopped fishing, and dispatched more than 870 fishing boats to search day and night, not letting go of any clues, and on the shore, people also formed a team of more than 4,000 people to search for Wang Wei's whereabouts along the coastline.
In the 14 days since the accident, more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians searched for Wang Wei, and each of them shouted in their hearts over and over again, hoping that he would return with the fighter number 81192.
However, the miracle did not happen, although the 14-day search did not find any useful clues, until it was finally announced that Wang Wei had died, people fell into great grief, so why did the search and rescue of 100,000 people not find Wang Wei?
Why 100,000 people can't find him
In fact, the reason why Wang Wei cannot be found cannot be ruled out by environmental factors, the sea surface seems to be calm, but in fact, the ocean currents below are unpredictable, and finding Wang Wei is like looking for a needle in a haystack, and the difficulty can be imagined.
In addition, at that time, the mainland was still facing many difficulties in maritime search and rescue, such as the imperfection of relevant search and rescue agencies, the weak coordination ability, and the poor communication between the central department and its subordinate members.
Many search and rescue centers did not have any financial resources, and relied entirely on the most traditional naked eye observation for search and rescue, which greatly reduced efficiency, and the rescue forces around the incident were weak at that time, and did not have the ability to respond quickly.
The most important thing is that our search and rescue activities are entirely composed of ourselves, and as the initiator of this accident, the United States not only did not go to the rescue, but always wanted to wash away the crime and delay the rescue process.
In general, in addition to the influence of environmental factors, the most common thing is that the mainland search and rescue force is not strong, but because of this, we will work hard in the future and invest a lot of money and talents in the construction of the maritime rescue force.
epilogue
Wang Wei did not hesitate to sacrifice his life in order to protect the territorial security of the mainland, and this spirit is worthy of praise from each of us, although more than 20 years have passed now, but we will never forget this accident, and we will always wait for the return of 81192.
The reason why the search and rescue of 100,000 people still did not find Wang Wei is, in the final analysis, that we were not strong enough at that time, but now China is not what it used to be, and the launch of aircraft carriers and the improvement of search and rescue forces are enough to defend the safety of the mainland's territorial airspace and territorial waters.
In the future, we must still keep in mind history, forge ahead, and never let the 81192 incident happen again!
Information sources:
Observer.com "Witnesses of the Sino-US Plane Collision Incident in the South China Sea: The United States' First Thought Is Not to Save People, but to Destroy US Military Aircraft"2023-04-01
China News Network, "Chinese Search and Rescue Parachute Pilot Wang Wei Documentary", 2001-04-13
CCTV.com, "Searching for Wang Wei for 14 Days Without Results, Mainland Maritime Search and Rescue Faces Five Major Problems", 2001-04-28
CCTV, "11 Days and Nights of the Sino-US Plane Collision Incident", 2001-04-12