By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The Learjet 45 took off from Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield around 8 a.m. bound for Moline, Illinois.
Onboard were Schnucks Markets president Scott Schnuck and six staff members.
Shortly after takeoff, one of the two pilots reported a problem with the front landing gear. The plane circled about two hours before landing safely at Lambert.
"Upon takeoff, the pilot did notice a problem and immediately called in the problem," said Lambert spokeswoman Sandy Singer. "They chose to come to Lambert because we were fully equipped to handle any sort of emergency.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident. Spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham-Cory says the agency will investigate a number of issues.
"That includes the maintenance of the aircraft, the rules of flight, the certification of the pilots - a variety of issues that we'll review, primarily to see what happened and to help us learn more so this type of thing doesn't happen again," said Isham-Cory.
The incident comes a day after a jetliner made a similar emergency landing in Boston.