Plane with gear issue lands safely at O’Hare

A small jet with a landing gear issue landed safely Friday morning at O’Hare International Airport.

The pilot of an Air Wisconsin regional jet requested to return to O’Hare for a “landing gear problem” shortly after departure, according to preliminary information from Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory.

The plane — destined for Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport in Okaloosa County, Florida — landed without incident at O’Hare at 11 a.m., Cory said in an email. The jet initially took off from O’Hare at 9:47 a.m., she said.

Firefighters responded to the plane as a precaution, according to Chicago fire spokesman Larry Merritt. No one was transported to a hospital, he said.

Online flight records show the plane turned back to O’Hare when it reached downstate Danville, about 30 miles east of Champaign.

The plane was a twin-engine Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200, according to online flight records. The business jet has 36 seats and was last produced in 2006.

Air Wisconsin Airlines flies planes exclusively as United Express in a partnership with United Airlines, according to the company’s website.

The Chicago Department of Aviation and Air Wisconsin Airlines didn’t immediately reply to a requests for comment.