“Courageous” is how a surviving passenger praised the pilot who belly-landed their flight at ‘Eua airport this morning.

The seven passengers and the pilot walked away unscathed from the crash landing of the REAL Tonga Beech Queen Air  A3-CIA.

Naita Fe‘ao, the Manager of Tonga Power Ltd., 'Eua branch, who was sitting right behind the pilot, said they did not feel afraid because the pilot did not alarm them. The flight from Tongatapu to ‘Eua is the shortest on Tonga’s domestic routes, taking only 10 minutes.

"We left Fua'amotu Airport just after 7:00am. We had a beautiful flight. The plane came down nicely, ready to land. It wasn’t until we landed with the belly of the plane that we knew that something was wrong," she said.

"I was sitting on the seat right behind the pilot. I give him thumbs up for not making us panic. He quietly did his best to land the plane by swerving it from the runway onto the grass area in order to stop the plane from going over to the end of the airport field".

Naita said that at first it was like a normal landing, but it wasn’t until she saw the pilot trying to manage the plane and steer it off the runway to the grass area that she realized that something was wrong.

"I was the last to climb out of the plane and as I was gathering my things. I said to the pilot, 'what happened'? Then I saw his shocked expression, so I just thanked him for that courageous job! "

"Thank God we are saved!"

Naita said when her boss told her to go and rest, she said “I’m okay,” and went back to work. 

The passengers included Tongans Kisione and Kalisi Pakalani, and Japanese volunteers.

REAL Tonga has not identified the pilot. However, sources have identified him as Peniata Maiava.