Yellowknife (May 09/05) - A First Air plane en route to Iqaluit was forced into an emergency landing less than 10 minutes after leaving the Yellowknife airport, Friday morning.

Officials say smoke was detected at 10:02 a.m. and by 10:10 a.m. the plane was back on the Yellowknife runway.

The cause of the smoke was unknown Friday afternoon. Twenty-four passengers and four First Air staff members were evacuated and brought by school bus from the runway to the Yellowknife airport fire department.

Passenger James Stewart was on his way home to Iqaluit. Nobody panicked and the situation was handled professionally, Stewart said. But he was confused when stepping out of the emergency exit onto the wing of the plane.

"I got out there and I said 'now where do I go?'" he said, and then laughed.

One woman sustained minor injuries while sliding down the emergency exit on the wings of the plane.