Members of an emergency crew at Honolulu Airport spray water onto Hawaiian jetliner "Kahului" which made an emergency landing today.
Photo by Dean Sensui, Star-Bulletin

None of the 71 passengers and five crew members on Flight 113 was injured.

"It was calm, no hysteria at all," said passenger Garth Vears, vacationing here from Perth, Australia, with his wife, Venecia.

The plane, which left Honolulu about 7 a.m. bound for Kauai, had a nose gear malfunction when it approached Lihue and prepared to land at 7:23 a.m., said Tom Rea, Federal Aviation Administration representative.

"It executed a misapproach and requested from Air Traffic Control to return to Honolulu," he said. It arrived at 7:56 a.m., he said, and made an emergency landing.

Rea and Keoni Wagner, Hawaiian Airlines spokesman, said they had no reports of flames.

But the airport's assistant fire chief said there was a "short-duration fire" from the nose gear when the plane landed, said Marilyn Kali, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman. She said the crash-fire team was standing by and put the fire out.

Flight 113 sits on the reef runway while emergency crews and shuttle buses converge on the scene.
Photo by Dean Sensui, Star-Bulletin

Wagner said a warning light signaled a problem with the nose landing gear.

After landing in Honolulu, he said, "The aircraft's nose gear retracted. The aircraft came to a safe stop and all passengers were safely evacuated." They were placed on other flights, he said.

Wagner said Hawaiian's airplanes are checked every day and today's nose gear problem was unusual.

"We can't remember the last time an incident of this nature occurred ... We're looking into it," he said, adding: "Hawaiian has an unblemished safety record."

Kali said the reef runway was closed and alternate runways were used until the crippled plane was removed.

Wagner said there was minimal damage to the plane.

Vears said when the plane neared Kauai, the captain informed passengers there was a problem with the nose gear and that the crew was trying to get the landing gear to extend.

When passengers were informed the plane was turning back to Honolulu, the cabin crew "was most supportive," Vears said.

They calmly went to each passenger to show them what to do in case of a crash landing. "It gave the passengers a helluva lot of confidence," he said.

Passengers on Flight 113 book new flights after today's emergency landing at Honolulu Airport.
Photo by George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin

Most passengers disembarked calmly via a ladder at the front of the plane - although several exited on the steep emergency chute at the back.

The Vears are trying to arrange for a flight to Kauai tomorrow for a day trip, then leave for home Tuesday.

Passenger Alan Voisey of Perth, Western Australia, said he gives "full marks to the pilot and co-pilot and 110 percent to the cabin crew."

"The airline staff made everyone comfortable," he said. "Everybody looked calm on the outside. We walked off in an orderly fashion as if nothing happened."

He and his wife, Cynthia, planned to take another flight to kauai tomorrow before returning home Monday.

She said she was feeling "a little bit" shaky about taking tomorrow's flight.