A go! flight last Friday night circled for about 18 minutes while the crew tried to resolve a problem with the aircraft's flaps.

The plane landed safely, although the landing speed was higher than normal, which created a lot of anxiety in the cabin, according to one passenger.

Flight 1040, scheduled to depart Honolulu at 7:48 p.m., was delayed and took off at 9:16 p.m.

According to FlightAware.com, which tracks the progress of aircraft, the Canadair Regional Jet reached its peak altitude at 23,000 feet and then descended until it was passing along the North Hilo coast at 1,700 feet.

Kathleen Kam, an art teacher returning to her Kea'au home, was on the flight.

"They have the cabin people say we're having problems with the wing flaps coming on, and that we're going to come in at a really fast rate," Kam said.

Then, instead of landing, the plane made a left turn out over the ocean and ascended to 3,000 feet. The plane made two large circuits off the Puna coast before its final approach into Hilo.

In the final minute of the flight, 400 feet above the ground, the plane was traveling at 195 mph. Kam described the mood as "extremely somber. ... Nobody was talking."

"This was really fast, and I could hear the brakes really engage," Kam said.

The airport's crash crew was standing by and escorted the plane to the jetway about 10:15 p.m.

Paul Skellon, a spokesman for go!, said a warning light on the airplane's control panel indicated a problem with one of the airplane flaps.

"The airplane would have made an approach at a slightly higher speed than normal," Skellon said, after talking to the chief pilot. Skellon didn't confirm whether there was a real safety issue, and Mesa did not appear to have filed a report with the National Transportation Safety Board.

"I think it was an indicator, simply an indicator," Skellon said. "Anything to do with emergency vehicles are purely precautionary."