Talofa Air ferried to Apia on Saturday its 9-seater Twin Commander aircraft that developed problems after it landed at Pago Pago International Airport last Thursday.
An airline spokesperson told KHJ News that the aircraft landed safely at Fagalii Airport and is being checked.
A report about the incident is also being submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration.
FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said what happened to the Talofa Air plane last Thursday is not considered an emergency by the FAA.
Commenting on the incident he said while the Twin Commander aircraft was taxing, the main landing gear collapsed.
According to the FAA official a landing-gear collapse when an aircraft is taxiing slowly would not generally be an emergency.
But he pointed out that a pilot is “theoretically free to declare an emergency concerning any event at his or her discretion.”
And in addition there’s no requirement for a pilot to request an emergency response in occurrences such as this.
Gregor said Talofa Air reported the incident to the FAA, and an investigation is underway.
Talofa Air has a second Twin Commander plane which it is using for flights on the inter Samoa route as well as its service to Tonga.
Senator Magalei Logovii who was one of 8 passengers on board the flight expressed concern about the slow response from airport authorities after the plane developed problems.
A hearing into the airport handling of the situation is to be held Thursday.
KHJ News understands that the Port Director Taimalelagi Dr. Claire Poumele came down hard on airport staff during a meeting at the airport Thursday afternoon.
