A mum's "scary" attack on the pilot of a charter flight to Dubbo has been detailed in court.
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The 47-year-old single mother was red-faced and dabbing her eyes with a tissue as judge Karen Robinson read out her sentence at the District Court in Dubbo on Friday, May 10.
"There was clearly a risk... this is a serious offence by its very nature," Judge Robinson said.
"It must have been a very scary situation for the pilot. It could have ended a lot worse.
"The offender's conduct endangered [the pilot], herself and her child."
'I'm going to crucify you, I'm going to kill you'
In January, 2023, the woman and her six-year-old son had taken a holiday in Byron Bay.
Having come into some money and wanting to spend more time with her son, she decided to charter an AirLink flight home from Ballina to Dubbo.
At about midday on Tuesday, January 24, she boarded the plane with her son, carrying a bottle of champagne. She started off cheerful but, as the flight neared its end, things went dangerously wrong.
About two hours later, while the plane was 10,000 feet above the ground, the pilot felt someone pull his headset off. He turned around and saw the woman holding his headset.
"Take me home, I want to go back to Dubbo," the woman said repeatedly to the pilot.
The pilot took his headset back and the woman punched him in the back.
He radioed his supervisor and told him the passenger was assaulting him and said he wanted to land in Dubbo early and was already on his descent. At first he declined police assistance but the attack didn't stop there.
When he hung up the call the woman punched him a further six times in the back. She continued to yell and scream and climbed into the cockpit, reaching for the plane's door.
The pilot managed to push the woman out of the cockpit and started descending more rapidly. The woman continued to shout at the pilot as he attempted to land.
"I'm going to crucify you, I'm going to kill you," she said, pointing her finger at his face.
Finally, the pilot landed on an alternate runway at Dubbo Regional Airport where police were already waiting. The woman exited the plane in a "calm and casual manner", but appeared "flushed and sweaty" and was unsteady on her feet.
She told the police she was scared because the pilot "wasn't landing" and was doing lots of circles.
The woman was arrested and charged with common assault, assaulting a crew member of a division three aircraft and intimidation to cause fear.
She spent two days in prison before being released on bail.
Attack on pilot was a 'fight or flight' response
During the sentencing hearing on Friday, May 10, the court heard the woman's attack on the pilot was a result of a fight or flight response to a "trauma trigger".
A report from a psychologist who had been seeing the offender said the woman had been in a volatile relationship with her former partner. She also had trauma relating to abuse she experienced as a child, which led her to excessive binge drinking.
She told police she was worried for her son's safety as the pilot "hadn't communicated" the progress of the flight.
The woman said she is "embarrassed and ashamed" of her behaviour and "truly sorry".
Judge Robinson acknowledged the woman's remorse but said she hadn't taken full responsibility for her actions or understood the seriousness of the offence, which could have seen her spend up to 34 years in jail.
However, she felt the offender had "good prospects" of rehabilitation and was the primary carer for her child.
The woman was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 11 months to be served in the community.
She is expected to be on good behaviour, regularly meet with community corrections, abstain from alcohol and to see her psychologist.
