HILO — A faulty warning light forced a Hawaiian Airlines jet bound for Honolulu from Los Angeles to make an emergency landing yesterday in Hilo.

Hawaii County firefighters watched from a dozen emergency vehicles staged at the Civil Air Patrol parking lot as the Boeing 767 made a low-speed approach and touched down about 11:30 a.m.
The pilot had been forced to idle down one engine about two hours out from Honolulu after a light came on indicating trouble with an oil filter.
The indicator was later found to be faulty.
“It's standard if you have any engine discrepancy to land at the nearest airport,” said Keoni Wagner, vice president of public affairs for Hawaiian Airlines.
While some of the 237 passengers were shaken by the experience, many credited the pilot and crew for their handling of the situation and for keeping passengers calm.
The plane descended thousands of feet immediately after the malfunction was discovered.
“They had to go down tremendously, almost to the top of the cloud cover,” said passenger Diana Hanley. “I was shaken and teary, but the crew was absolutely terrific. They made me feel so good.”
Hawaiian brought an extra Boeing 717 to Hilo to ferry stranded passengers to Oahu, and was able to get connecting passengers to their destinations, Wagner said.
David Sio of Oahu was on vacation, his wife waiting for him on Oahu, and was drifting off to sleep when the pilot came on the public address system. The pilot said the plane was having an issue with its oil and that he had been advised to idle the engine down, but not shut it off.
Overall, the handling of the emergency and the landing was smooth, “but it was pretty concerning,” Sio said.
While some passengers didn't get to their destination on time, Hilo-bound passengers were spared a connecting flight from Honolulu.
“We got home three hours early,” said an upbeat Mike Udovic of Hilo.
“It got a little noisy when they made the announcement (on the PA), but that's to be expected,” said Big Island flier Marc Hashimoto.