Samoa’s Minister of Civil Aviation, Olo Fiti Va’ai, says a recent audit certification check did not identify any issues with the Talofa Airways plane which encountered problems after losing its front wheel during landing at Tafuna Airport.
The Minister said his office is awaiting submission of an Incident Report from Talofa Airways.
“However, the last audit certifications for the aircraft (5W-LOR) were done in April of this year for a Certificate of Airworthiness, as well as ongoing surveillance in June, and it did not identify any issues,” he said.
Olo added the Certification audits and inspections are carried out by the Civil Aviation Division of the Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure along with inspectors from the Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO).
“We thank the Lord that no one was hurt and extend our gratitude to the pilot for navigating the plane safely to the ground,” Olo said.
“It is important to remember that such incidents with faulty landing gear, while rare, are not uncommon in aviation.”
All eight passengers and the pilot on the flight from Faleolo to Tafuna escaped without injuries. The landing incident occurred Sunday afternoon.
