31.   The spy plane collided with the Chinese jet while doing routine surveillance over the South China Sea, US officials said.

32.   The United States says its plane was in international airspace and maintaining a straight course when the Chinese jet hit it.

33.   The U.S. plane and one of the two Chinese interceptors collided, sending the Chinese jet and its pilot plummeting into the sea.

34.   They had been held since their jet collided with a Chinese military jet and made an emergency landing on a Chinese island.

35.   Two Chinese jet interceptors buzzed the sophisticated U.S. electronic eavesdropping aircraft before the mid-air collision sent one of the Chinese jets plummeting into the ocean.

36.   U.S.-Chinese relations turned chilly last April after a U.S. spy plane collided with a Chinese military jet.

37.   US military officials firmly believe the faster and smaller Chinese jet caused the collision, but Pentagon officials went to great lengths not to ascertain blame.

38.   Wind roared through the plane where shards of the Chinese jet had punctured it.

39.   Analysts say China is unlikely to agree to release the Americans until the fate of the Chinese jet pilot is known.

40.   Both the pilots and the management have now agreed to use the Chinese jet for six months and allow the airline to buy an aircraft by that time.