A sudden loss of cabin pressure caused an airline flight en route from Iowa to Detroit to make an emergency landing Thursday morning at Mitchell International Airport, where one passenger was taken to a hospital for an ear injury.
The SkyWest flight, operating as Delta Connection, left Cedar Rapids about 7 a.m. headed for Detroit but landed in Milwaukee shortly after 8 a.m.
Marissa Snow, a SkyWest spokeswoman, said in an email that the plane, a 50-passenger Bombardier CRJ 200 with 38 passengers and three crew, landed safely and that mechanical crews were investigating why the cabin lost pressure, while the airline helped passengers continue their trip on a different aircraft.
A female passenger was taken to the hospital, Snow said, where she was checked for ear pain and later resumed her travels. Another passenger on the flight told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the woman appeared to have suffered a burst eardrum during the descent.
The passenger, who said he was flying for business and his employer did not want him to be identified, said the oxygen masks deployed and the interior of the plane got very warm and the air smelled bad. He said he rented a car and was driving to his final destination.
Online records show the flight later left Milwaukee for Detroit about 2:30 p.m.
A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the agency is investigating the incident.