An aircraft appearing to fly erratically at LF Wade International Airport this week is conducting test runs of the facility’s equipment, Skyport officials have confirmed.

The small jet, sent by the US Federal Aviation Administration, is scheduled to carry out more airport approaches to put navigational equipment through its paces.

It came after a member of the public told The Royal Gazette that onlookers by Ferry Reach on Wednesday took the pilot to be in difficulty landing a private aircraft.

“We weren’t sure what was going on, but it looked like he couldn’t land,” one man said.

“We watched it come in twice before it landed the third time. At one point it was going so low I thought it might hit the airport.”

Skyport said: “The aircraft type in question is a Bombardier Challenger 605, which is normally used as a corporate jet.”

The Challenger 605 is a twin engine business jet originally developed by Canadair that typically seats up to 12 people.

The aircraft was conducting flight checks of the airport’s newly installed Precision Approach Path Indicators and other navigational aid equipment, according to Skyport.

Path indicators are the system of lights along the runway which are used by pilots to help guide aircraft to the touchdown point.

Tests occur regularly at the airport, with recent examples including the simulated emergency landing of a Russian aircraft last December, and a mock aircraft accident last November to run the airport through its emergency procedure.

Skyport said that to commission the new navigational aid equipment, the FAA had been contracted to conduct a flight check, or inspection, of the equipment.

“To achieve this, the aircraft is required to conduct a series of approaches and low passes to the runway, both on the 12 [Ferry Reach] and 30 [Clearwater] ends.”

The Skyport official said that as of this morning, a total of 12 airport approaches had been conducted, with “more to ensue”.