(ST. LOUIS) -- A private jet landed safely Monday after declaring an emergency over the skies of St Louis.

For close to an hour the private jet with eight people onboard circled to burn off fuel.  The flight’s operators told air traffic controllers they had a problem with the Learjet 45’s landing gear.

The pilots decided to abort a landing at a smaller airport in St. Louis and instead went to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, where commercial planes land.

The plane landed safely. Shortly afterward, passengers could be seen walking off with their luggage.

ABC News aviation analyst John Nance says it's a testament to advances made in aviation over the years. “When you're dealing with airplanes that are very, very sophisticated -- especially jets, even small business jets -- our methodologies match that of even the biggest 747.”

“The thing that's really so amazing about aviation, and not just commercial aviation,” Nance said, “is the standard methodologies that make almost any emergency you can imagine fairly routine.”

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