Hainan Island Incident
On April 1, 2001, Osborn was piloting an EP-3E airplane with a 23 member crew about 70 miles (110 km) away from the Chinese island of Hainan in international airspace when it collided with a Chinese J-8IIM fighter jet. The EP-3E's propeller cut the J-8 in half. The fighter's nose section cartwheeled upward, smashing into the EP-3E's nose and tearing off the radome. The impact sent Osborn's plane into an inverted dive, dropping 8,000 feet in 30 seconds and falling another 6,000 feet before Osborn had the EP-3E's nose up and wings level. In a September 2003 article in the Naval Aviation News, Osborn told Jim Turnbull that once he regained control of the plane he "called for the crew to prepare to bail out." They donned parachutes and initiated an emergency plan, which included destroying intelligence equipment and sensitive documents on board.
After an unauthorized emergency landing, without airspeed data or flaps, at the Lingshui Air Base on Hainan Island, Osborn and his crew were taken to a Chinese military barracks where they were detained and interrogated for 10 days. The aircraft was dismantled by the Chinese and returned to the US in boxes after months of scrutiny by Chinese officials. On April 11, 2001 the crew were released from Chinese custody and returned to the United States. After the Hainan Island incident, Osborn was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
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