Spy plane downed in China returns

ATLANTA -- The Navy spy plane downed after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet last year has taken its first test flight, 16 months after it was shipped back to the United States in pieces.

The repaired EP-3, a four-engine surveillance and reconnaissance airplane, took off from Dobbins Air Reserve Base on Friday morning and flew for about two hours.

"Everything went smoothly on the first test flight," said Jim Saye, a spokesman at Lockheed Martin's plant in Marietta. The EP-3 was flying off the China coast April 1, 2001, when it was attacked by a Chinese fighter jet.