Spy plane crisis easing, says US

The US stand-off with China over the captured spy plane shows signs of easing.

A senior US official says the situation has improved.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a letter to Beijing, reiterated US regret for the death of a Chinese pilot, whose fighter collided with the spy plane.

The official hoped the United States would soon have access to the American plane that China is holding along with the 24 crew men and women.

China's new ambassador to Washington, Yang Jiechi, held his second meeting in two days with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, in an effort to resolve the dispute.

There was no confirmation the Chinese had stripped the plane of intelligence-gathering gear. But the official said it was assumed the sophisticated equipment had been removed.

The Chinese pilot whose F-8 collided with the larger EP-3E Aries had challenged the US plane in the past, said Senator Richard Lugar.

The pilot is presumed to have died in the accident. The crippled US plane made an emergency landing on the Chinese island of Hainan.