LINCOLN, Neb. – Former U.S. Navy pilot Shane Osborn, who became a national hero in 2001 when he guided a damaged Whidbey Island Naval Air Station surveillance plane to a safe landing on a Chinese island, said Wednesday he will seek the Republican nomination for Nebraska state treasurer.
Osborn, 31, will face Republican Treasurer Ron Ross in the May 2006 primary. There are no other announced candidates.
On April 1, 2001, Osborn was flying an EP-3E Aries II over the South China Sea when a Chinese fighter plane got too close and the two aircraft collided. Osborn’s plane plunged 7,500 feet before he gained control and landed in Chinese territory, on the island of Hainan.
None of the 24 crew members, members of the Whidbey-based Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One, were hurt, but they were held prisoner for a tense 11 days while the U.S. government worked to persuade the Chinese to free them.
Osborn said he had no qualms about challenging an incumbent Republican.
“That’s the great thing about a democracy: People get a choice,” he said.
Osborn graduated from high school in Norfolk and received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1996. He moved to Omaha earlier this year after leaving the Navy and works as an aviation insurance broker.
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