A Chinese fighter jet came within 10 feet of a US Air Force B-52 bomber flying over the South China Sea on Tuesday, according to the US military.
The Chinese pilot “flew in an unsafe and unprofessional manner, demonstrated poor airmanship by closing with uncontrolled excessive speed, flying below, in front of, and within 10 feet of the B-52, putting both aircraft in danger of collision,” US Indo-Pacific Command said in a Thursday statement. “We are concerned this pilot was unaware of how close he came to causing a collision.”
News of the latest Chinese intercept comes as President Joe Biden is expected to speak with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi when he visits the White House on Friday, CNN reported on Thursday. It is not clear whether the meeting will be a formal discussion or a more informal meet and greet. Wang is also expected to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday and national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Friday.
The Chinese military is severely lacking in accountability and professionalism. The pilots think this kind of flying projects skill, when really it shows their incompetence.
This is completely not true. It does not show incompetence whatsoever. Quite the opposite actually. Dangerous, reckless, unprofessional, yes. But at those speeds, it takes skill to get that close, and not be pulled into the other plane and crash, when the other plane is not actively participating in the stunt. That’s why the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels, and every other stunt team in the world practice for 100’s of hours on this. It is not easy to do in any case. Bernoulli’s principle makes it get more difficult the faster you are moving. That is why a chinese pilot crashed into an E3 years ago, when he tried to pull the same crap.
A professional would recognize the slim margin for error and numerous things that could go wrong and just not do this type of crazy stunt at all
As I said it’s unprofessional, but to do it and not crash does take skill. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t stupid as it is.
You’re saying this as if the pilot was just hotdogging and was totally ignorant of the risks. That’s pretty unlikely.
The Chinese government has been pretty clear about what they think of “freedom of navigation exercises”. If Chinese bombers were flying around the coast of the US you can be damn sure we’d be scrambling fighters to crawl up their butts too.
Those pilots got orders and carried them out successfully. You may disagree with the orders but it’s silly to accuse the pilot of lack of professionalism.
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Lol… All the dumb downvotes these days… At least reply after a downvote to explain why You downvoted in the first place. Annoying 😞 but funny 😂🤣
Edit: how’d I get more downvotes then the messages below? 👇 🤣😂
No
Fuck you thats why.
And? They’ve been doing this shit for 20+ years and nothing ever comes of it.
Exactly. The Chinese pilot who collided with the Navy EP-3 was honored. He was pretty dead at the time but none the less. The Chinese want their pilots to fly like this.
Fearmongering because we’re in a second cold war with China. That’s what this is.
China is so reliant on the US economy that the odds of a war with China are exceptionally low.
Considering US/China relations a cold war and not just dick waving is a massive exaggeration of Chinese capabilities.
Do you think that the cold war with the USSR was announced by Congress or something? A cold war doesn’t mean it will go hot; we never waged war with the USSR.
A cold war is very specifically a situation that could go hot at any time. If that possibility does not exist, you are not in a cold war, you are geopolitical rivals.
The hint is in the name. Cold war.
He was just communicating
Charlie: Well, if you were directly above him, how could you see him? Maverick: Because I was inverted. Iceman: [coughs] Bullshit. Goose: No, he was, man. It was a really great move. He was inverted. Charlie: You were in a 4G inverted dive with a MiG-28? Maverick: Yes, ma’am. Charlie: At what range? Maverick: About two meters? Goose: Well, it’s actually about one and a half, I think. It was one and a half. I’ve got a great Polaroid of it, and he’s right there, must be one and a half. Maverick: Was a nice picture. Goose: Thanks. Charlie: Eh, Lieutenant, what were you doing there? Goose: Communicating. Maverick: Communicating. Keeping up foreign relations. I was, you know, giving him the bird. Goose: You know, the finger
How many houses for poor people could that interaction have paid for?
China can just forcibly move people whenever they want so this isn’t really a concern for them.
Presumably the pilot would have been ordered to do this. To what end? Why?
Yes China, we know you want Taiwan back. Either commit to solid action or don’t. This bizarre behaviour just risks lives and expensive aircraft.
Seriously, what’s the point?
They explain why in the article.
From China’s point of view, the US regularly sends planes thousands of miles from its coast to go to harass China. They view it as the equivalent of when an other kid starts waving their hands in your face and saying, “I’m not touching you. I’m not touching you.” They feinting back.
Both the freedom of navigation exercise and the response are messages. The US is saying, “We can project force all the way to your front door. If push comes to shove, we can start blowing up your shit.” China is essentially responding with, “You got yours and I got mine. You wanna fuck around and find out?”
That’s what it boils down to. It’s an extremely angry conversation between superpowers.
At least we know it’s not the Grinch, because that’s much closer than 39 1/2 feet.
Shouldn’t all bombers be flying with fighter escorts? How did a Chinese fighter plane manage to get so close to it?
this is fucking normal it’s not fucking news stop posting it
aircraft within 10ft of each other is not safe.
if it’s that normal it’s a simple matter of time until an accident.
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What are you trying to say
how dare China fly a plane in checks notes the South China sea
You mean in international airspace over international waters?
Ah but it has “China” in its name so it should all belong to China! Taps forehead
Checks map
Oof, Taiwan, the Philippines, and parts of Japan amongst others are not going to be happy to learn this.
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Inshallah we will all be one, someday.
A hemispheric common market with free trade and open borders. An EU of the Americans.
But did you checks notes???!?
note checking intensifies
How is this fundamentally different from the US with aircraft carriers?
US ships and aircraft follow international law and don’t endanger others with illegal maneuvers. You’re allowed to be there, you’re not allowed to try to almost hit (and in multiple cases actually hit) someone else that is allowed to be there.
Well for one we aren’t flying those aircraft carriers within an unsafe distance from other…vessels
Right, the Chinese are forbidden to fly planes there but Americans may of course do so, great logic my friend /s
The Chinese are absolutely allowed to fly planes there. What is against international law is unsafe intercepts and flying within 10 feet of another aircraft.
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Yeah, we really do need to crack down on sex workers.
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For some context, the South China Sea is a giant sea between China, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and a few others. Currently, China is pushing for what it calls the “Nine-Dash Line” policy which would in effect forcibly blockade all other ASEAN nations from trading.
Imagine if Italy claimed the entire Mediterranean Sea including the coastline of other nations, then prevented others from trading under the threat of military invasion. That’s basically what China is trying to do here.
So… Rome.
MARE NOSTRUM INTENSIFIES
There’s flying, and the there’s flying like a moron. No matter where you are, in your own air space or someone else’s, flying like a moron is a terrible idea.
Traveling within 10 feet of another vehicle where the speeds are measured as a percentage of the speed of sound (Mach) is definitely flying like a moron.
Not always, I fly 10 feet away from another plane all the time. The difference is we planned it from the beginning and are both actively participating.
True, but that is well planned, both pilots probably meet before the flight, I think, and actually discuss the whole routine including the distance, because unexpected turbulence and a dozen other factors can throw the plan off, whereas fighter jet meets B-52 without any plan or possibly even contact, at 400+ knots is a bad idea.
Absolutely, intercepts have prescribed international standards that must be observed to ensure safety of flight. I was just commenting that it’s not always a bad idea if done correctly.
And you practice doing that with those pilots.
This happened in international airspace. Doesn’t matter what the body of water is called. The entirety of the gulf of Mexico doesn’t belong to Mexico either. Nor does the Indian ocean belong to India.
Also the China Sea was originally named by the Portuguese.
No, no, his logic is sound. The Atlantic Ocean will hereby be renamed the East American Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean will hereby be renamed the West American Ocean. The South China Sea will hereby be renamed the West West American Ocean. The Indian Ocean will hereby be renamed the South West American Ocean.
Checkmate, China
Solid proposal. Approved!
How many signatures do we need ?
By that logic the Atlantic Ocean belongs to Atlanta
And the Pacific Ocean belongs to the PAC-12 conference
Soon it’ll be reorganized and become The Bigten Ocean.
And for some stupid reason 1/6 of it will now be part of the Atlantic.
You checking your China ‘this is totally all mine’ new map in your notes? The 9 dash line is hand drawn and totally arbitrary, and is basically saying ‘this is mine now.’
Also known as the Vietnamese East Sea, Malaysian Champa Sea, Indonesian North Natuna Sea, and Philippines Luzon Sea.
As long as they don’t go anywhere in the Indian Ocean.
