U.S. plane with sick passenger makes emergency landing

A U.S. plane heading for Connecticut was forced to make an emergency landing in Upstate New York Wednesday, after a passenger lost consciousness.

SkyWest Flight 5622, operating as United Express from Chicago, diverted to Buffalo, New York after a passenger lost consciousness.

The plane had been headed to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut until the cabin crew know one of the passengers on board was unconscious.

The pilot thought he might have a pressurization issue, so he declared an emergency and took the plane from over 30,000 feet to about 10,000 feet -- a steep drop -- in a period of eight minutes, SkyWest Spokesman Layne Watson told Xinhua.

The pilot then leveled off and made a safe landing at Buffalo, where the passenger received medical attention before being released, according to a statement from SkyWest.

The maintenance teams are inspecting the aircraft and passengers were accommodated on another flight and planned to be sent to Hartford shortly, said the statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration said initial information indicated the Embraer E170 jet may have had a pressurization problem, but that turned out to be incorrect.

SkyWest said the plane' s oxygen masks did not release. Enditem