Plane makes emergency landing in Oakland

(01-22) 18:45 PST Oakland -- A Southwest Airlines plane that left San Francisco International Airport for Chicago on Saturday afternoon made an emergency landing in Oakland for a warning light, which turned out to be a false alert.

Pilots on Flight 450, a 2:45 p.m. flight out of San Francisco, called Oakland International Airport at 3:16 p.m. after seeing a warning light come on, said Marilyn Sandifur, spokeswoman for the Port of Oakland, which operates the airport.

"It turned out there was nothing wrong - it was some problem with the electronics, so it was a false alarm when the light went on," Sandifur said.

The warning light indicated there could be overheating in the wheel well. The pilots diverted to the nearest airport, which they are trained to do, said Brandy King, a spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines.

The Boeing 737 jetliner had an "uneventful landing," and emergency crews that inspected the aircraft immediately upon its arrival found "no indication of overheating or a fire," King said.

Passengers were taken from the airplane and boarded another aircraft for Chicago Midway Airport within 90 minutes of the original scheduled departure.

E-mail Jessica Kwong at jkwong@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle