CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. -- The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what exactly caused a commuter flight from New Jersey to make an emergency landing in Ontario County Sunday afternoon.

Flight 4770 took off from Newark and was headed to Rochester.

Just after 2 p.m., Canandaigua Fire Chief Mark Marentette said his department was called to the Canandaigua City Airport for a United Express plane making an emergency landing.

“They had some warning indicators go off in the cockpit,” Marentette said. “Then they had smoke in the cockpit. Then they had smoke alarms go off in the bathroom. The flight attendant checked and found smoke in the bathroom, discharged two fire extinguishers into the bathroom as a precautionary measure, and then they had smoke starting to fill the cabin itself.”

While the pilot and co-pilot put on oxygen masks and the flight attendant put on a smoke hood, the 37 passengers were told to keep their heads down.

“I was nervous and then I just started praying,” Rochester resident and passenger Jean Everson said. “Then I calmed the lady next to me and we worked as a team. Just listened and did what she [the flight attendant] told us what to do.”

She and her husband Herbert Everson said although many passengers were frightened, they remained calm.

“There was no hollering, no nothing,” Jean Everson said. “People just started doing what she told us to do."

The plane did land safety and all the passengers were quickly escorted off.

The Ontario County Sheriff's Department said the cause appears to be electrical in nature and no foul play is suspected.

This isn’t the first time this plane has had problems however.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, on June 5 the plane was traveling from Newark to an airport in Connecticut when a fire broke out in the cockpit. Just like Sunday, the plane landed without incident.

Still, fire crews say they’ve been training for a situation like this for the past six months. They were even training on the runway on Saturday.

“When the runway was lengthened here in the last couple of years, it was brought to our attention that one of the possibilities was that now we could have a passenger aircraft in an emergency on approach to or taking off from Rochester International have to set down just like they did today,” Marentette said.

As for the passengers, they were taken by taxis to the Greater Rochester International Airport. The Everson’s said they hope this first time experience is the last.

“I’ve flown all over the place, all over the world, and this is the first time we’ve had anything like this happen,” Herbet Everson said.