QUINCY – A Contour Air jet that began its day in Dallas before stopping in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri made an impromptu landing at Quincy Regional Airport Saturday afternoon.
The jet was going from Fort Leonard Wood to Chicago. It informed passengers of a potential hydraulic issue while in the air and landed in Quincy just before 1:30 p.m.
The plane landed safely and all 23 passengers and crew are safe. No injuries were reported.
Contour Air issued a statement about 90 minutes after the incident.
“Contour Airlines Flight 3548 from Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. to Chicago O’Hare International Airport experienced a landing gear indication issue that prompted the crew to divert to Quincy …,” the statement read. “No emergency was declared by the crew and the aircraft landed normally. Passengers disembarked safely at the gate and will continue their journey to Chicago shortly.”
Quincy Police and Quincy Fire responded in case the landing had been an emergency.
“The plane flew in, landed here and had some type of hydraulic issue,” Quincy Regional Airport Director Bill Lantz said. “So the plane landed uneventful. Passengers are sitting in our terminal. Our fire department had responded as we planned and trained for. I consider it pretty much a non-event at this point.
Lantz said the landing affected no other operations or today’s planned flights in or out of Quincy.
Bailey Miller boarded the Chicago-bound flight in Dallas and was one of the passengers affected by the unplanned stop. She said they were informed of a potential issue after takeoff from Fort Leonard Wood.
“They made an announcement over the intercom,” Miller said. “It was a little hard to decipher, but they said everyone’s safe. We’re just going to have to make an emergency landing in about 20 minutes and just check out what’s going on with the plane.”
Miller said she was more confused than scared when informed of the situation.
“A little bit confused,” she said. “I was just curious, like, what was going on, because I couldn’t really understand what was being said over the intercom. But as soon as they reassured us everything was fine, I felt okay.”
