Passenger: Shortness of breath on flight diverted to NY

A passenger on a SkyWest flight to Connecticut that made an emergency landing in New York state described a lack of air in the cabin and shortness of breath as three others on board lost consciousness, but the airline said an inspection on the ground found no mechanical faults.
The flight, carrying 75 passengers, departed from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago and had been bound for Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
The plane began a steep, rapid descent after the crew declared an emergency and landed at Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Buffalo at about 11:40 am yesterday.

Federal transportation safety authorities said today they are still assessing what happened on Flight 5622, an Embraer E170 jet operating as United Express.
Passenger Larry Johnson of Danbury, Connecticut, told The Associated Press it became difficult to breathe part way through the flight, though oxygen masks never dropped.
"They told us there was a leak in something and the pressurization was cutting short," he said. "They said if you got lightheaded, that was normal, but that we were going to have to descend and make an emergency landing."

He said several passengers were given oxygen.
"None of the air vents were working and it was hard to breathe. You just felt that your chest was caving in and then the plane descended so rapidly and that didn't help," Johnson said.

"Me and my girlfriend, we were looking at each other we were like, 'We don't feel good.' Everything was so bright and when you blinked you would see dots. It was just hard to breathe. It wasn't a normal thing."
But SkyWest Inc spokeswoman Marissa Snow said today that inspections of the aircraft's systems by the airline's mechanics and local authorities "shows absolutely nothing wrong with the aircraft."
She said she had no confirmation no air was coming from the vents in the cabin or that there was a problem with the air handling system in the cabin.
"It is very unusual, obviously, to have a loss of consciousness," she said, adding that "there's no issue with the airplane."

Mary Cunningham, a nurse at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut was on the flight. She told WTNH-TV she helped provide medical attention after the first woman passed out.
"We got her oxygen and as soon as she got on the oxygen she was alert, she came right back," Cunningham said. "Then I went back to my seat after she was feeling better and they called me right back because the person sitting right behind her passed out.