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The Free Library
July 30, 1999
A DRUNKEN woman was kicked out of Canada after punching a stewardess in an air rage attack. Elaine Sharp, 42, lashed out after being refused a drink during a trip of a lifetime from Glasgow to see her sister.
The mother of two returned home on Wednesday after spending four days in jail and being fined pounds 260. Unemployed Sharp yesterday blamed her behavior on a combination of Prozac, trade name for fluoxetine hydrochloride, and whisky, plus the fact that she was nervous flying.
She said: “I wouldn’t consider myself violent. If I hadn’t been drinking this would never have happened.”
A Canadian court heard how Sharp, from St Ninians, Stirling, started drinking duty-free alcohol on the Canada 3000 DC10 flight to Toronto last Friday.
When she was refused a drink and told the aircraft’s bar was closed, she began swearing at the stewardess and challenged her to “have a go”.
Sharp had drunk so much during the flight that she passed out in the aisle and had to be lifted to her seat where she slept for two hours.
When she came round, she demanded a fresh drink and was again refused.
Sharp then charged the stewardess and punched her twice in the face before being subdued
She had defied airline rules by drinking from a bottle of duty-free Grouse whisky, after meeting two women from Glasgow on the flight.
Sharp, who has a 20-year-old son and an18-year-old daughter said she blacked out and did not remember anything else until she woke up in the cells.
She added: “I’m still in shock. My brother-in-law, who was waiting to pick me up at the airport, saw me being carted off by the police.”
Police escorted her to a flight back to Glasgow on Tuesday.
A police spokesman said they were called in last Friday to meet the Canada 3000 flight.
He said: “She had her fists up and was ready to fight it out. This is one of the worst cases of air rage we’ve seen.”