Senator schedules hearing into Talofa Airways landing incident

The Chairman of the Senate  Transportation Committee, Senator Malaepule Saite Moliga, says the landing incident involving a Talofa Airways aircraft this past weekend needs to be thoroughly investigated.

He said the investigation should look at the cause and the response from the airport.

Malaepule has scheduled  a hearing into the Talofa Airways accident for August 13, the day after the Fono reconvenes.

He has also asked the Senate attorney to write to the Federal Aviation administration to carry out its own probe into the incident.

Director of Port Administration Falenaoti Loi On Fruean told KHJ News that a report has been submitted to the FAA.

According to one of the 8 passengers on board the plane,  shortly after the plane touched down at Tafuna they heard a loud noise before the plane started sliding on its nose on the runway. Mrs. Matau’a Aasa Matai said the front wheel of the plane broke after the landing.

She credited the pilot for preventing what could have been a tragedy, saying that the plane slid on its nose for some time before the pilot calmly brought it to a stop.

The woman said they waited in the hot sun on the tarmac before they were brought to the terminal building.

Senator Malaepule told KHJ News that he was very concerned about the response time by the fire crash unit.

He said in the past, the airport fire crash unit would be on standby for every aircraft landing.

But from what he’s learned from the passenger accounts, there was no response until 20 minutes later.

He said this is one of the critical issues that the Transportation Committee will question in the hearing.

Malaepule said it was fortunate that all of the passengers and pilot were safe, but it could have been a tragedy.