On Tuesday, a Jet Blue captain freaked out mid-flight, muttering about a bomb, Al Qaeda, a code, and more. Which is maybe why a NJ woman's plane meltdown on the same day got a little less attention—and in her case, she was just allegedly attacking the flight crew for not giving her more alcohol.
Peggy S. Albedhady-Sanchez was on US Airways Flight 1697 from North Carolina to Florida when she went into a "kicking and screaming" rage after flight attendants refused to give her an alcoholic drink, allegedly because she was already intoxicated. Flight attendants told the police that she grabbed one flight attendant by the wrist, broke a chair armrest and kicked another attendant in the groin. Finally, an off-duty sheriff subdued her in the galley.
A NBC-17 reporter witnessed the incident and interviewed Sanchez, who denied being drunk and blamed taking medication and having one drink. She added, "I have been having a lot of personal problems," and said, "I became panicked. I said, 'Help me! Help me!' I couldn't breathe." She doesn't remember attacking the crew, but was very remorseful, "I'm so sorry. I want to apologize to the airline and to the nation -- everyone. Oh God, I am so embarrassed."
Sanchez may face federal charges, because she apparently prevented the flight crew from performing safety duties. The Star-Ledger notes, "A June 2009 article about Albedhady-Sanchez in the Hudson Reporter, a weekly newspaper covering Union City, said she began suffering panic attacks after surgeries to remove a brain aneurism and an air bubble in her skull," and her son said she seemed to have a breakdown during that N.C. layover. She wanted him to pick her up by car, but he told her to go on the flight, "She said, ‘I can’t take this.' She sounded like she had a lot of anxiety. And I’m starting to think, did we rush her to go without many details? As a son, you’re not going to think that’s something wrong with your mother."
