Plane from Atlanta with 70 aboard makes emergency landing at Newark

Newark Liberty Airport was briefly shut down after a commercial passenger plane from Atlanta with hydraulic problems was forced to make an emergency landing.

There were no reports of injuries among the roughly 70 people aboard the United Shuttle Air Express plane.

Authorities say the plane, which had departed from Atlanta, landed around 6:20 p.m. Monday, not long after the pilot reported a landing gear malfunction. Further details on the problem were not immediately available.

Newark firefighters were dispatched to the scene, but found no smoke or fire aboard the plane.

The entire airport was closed shortly after the landing occurred, but two runways reopened around 7:15 p.m.

A message left for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, was not immediately retued.

Shuttle America released a statement late Monday saying:

Shuttle America Flight 5124, operated on behalf of United Express, was involved in an incident at approximately 6:33 p.m. ET today in Newark, N.J.

On approach, the flight crew was not able to confirm that the nose gear had deployed correctly. After receiving confirmation from Newark Air Traffic Control that the nose gear was not down, the crew declared an emergency, prepared the cabin and safely landed. All customers and crew were safely bussed to the terminal.

The aircraft, an Embraer 170, carried 69 passengers and a crew of four.