United Express flight makes 'precautionary' landing at Peoria airport

PEORIA − A flight bound for Chicago returned to Peoria early Friday after a smoke alarm went off, resulting in the plane making a "precautionary" landing, airport officials said.

Gene Olson, the director of Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport, said the plane, a CRJ-200, a two-engine jetliner, took off about 7:08 a.m. and returned to Peoria at about 7:30 a.m. A smoke alarm had gone off in the plane's bathroom.

It was a false alarm and no smoke was actually detected, he said. All 31 passengers had been seated and no one was using the bathroom at the time, he said.

"They returned to the airport to make a precautionary landing. They taxied to the gate, deplaned their passengers and it was all over by 7:45 a.m.," he said.

After the plane taxied back to the terminal and the passengers and three crew members got off, a mechanic looked over the plane and found there was nothing wrong. Passengers reboarded the same plane and the bathroom was taken out of service for the flight, which normally lasts about 40 minutes, to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.

The flight resumed shortly after 9 a.m. and landed safely at O'Hare at 9:47 a.m., according to FlightAware, a website that tracks air traffic.

A CRJ-200 can hold up to 50. The flight, 3789, was operated by Air Wisconsin for United Express, according to FlightAware. No one was injured, Olson said.

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A call to the media line for Air Wisconsin was not immediately returned.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Smoke alarm causes Chicago-bound flight to return to Peoria