THE chief pilot of a United Parcel Service plane that had an emergency landing in Nadi last week thanked local authorities for their support.
John Waress was in charge of what should have been a routine flight to Sydney when he had to divert to Nadi International Airport.
"What happened was one of the circuits in one of the motors caught fire and we shut it down," he said.
"Since we were 700 nautical miles from Fiji, we decided to make a landing here.
"We could have flown on two motors but if one shut down it would have been more difficult to fly on one."
Approaching Nadi, Mr Waress said they faced strong winds -- around 16 knots -- and the plane could only take 10 knots. The option was to come from the mountain side of the airport instead of the usual seaside landing.
"However, we did not realise how high the mountains were until we approached, but we still decided we would take that route," Mr Waress said.
"It was better to be landing and going out to sea against the wind, it was easier than vice versa.
"We tried and it worked.
"We landed on the nice long runway you have there, it was a team work as I had two other pilots with me."
A pilot with 35 years of experience including with the US Air Force flying fighter planes, the man from Colorado was grateful to local authorities including Airports Fiji Limited.
"Everywhere we went the people in Fiji were absolutely nice to us," he said.
"We spent two-and-a-half days there, I have always thought of coming to Fiji but have never been able to.
"I will definitely be back with my family."
AFL public relations officer Pio Rokosuka said they were happy to have been of service to the UPS pilot.
Mr Rokosuka added that the incident proved the airport's competency in managing emergency situations.
Furthermore, he said, Nadi International Airport adhered to International Civil Aviation Organisation standards.
