Woman admits to drunken assault during flight

Herald staff

ANCHORAGE — An Anchorage woman has pleaded guilty to a felony count of interfering with a flight crew. The plea comes about three months after her in-flight behavior caused a Seattle-bound Continental Airlines flight to return to Anchorage.

Norma Linda Lozano had been jailed since her arrest in July.

She told U.S. District Court Judge James Singleton on Monday that she takes full responsibility for her on-board actions.

That includes profane speech, throwing a full can of beer at a flight attendant and hitting the woman in the chest, and biting the crew’s first officer after punching him several times in the face when he tried to subdue her, according to an FBI court affidavit.

But the 38-year-old Lozano also said she doesn’t remember what happened on the plane. She told the court she was having a blackout caused by the beer and liquor she consumed before boarding the flight in Anchorage with her boyfriend.

"Um, see I drank beer and that peppermint stuff … peppermint schnapps," she said.

An empty bottle of peppermint schnapps was found in the seat pocket where Lozano had been sitting on the plane, the FBI affidavit said.

Hours after the plane returned to Anchorage, she reportedly registered a 0.113 on a blood alcohol test administered at the Sixth Avenue Jail. That compares with the legal standard for driving while intoxicated in Alaska, which is 0.10.

Lozano faces a maximum of 20 years in jail and fines by pleading guilty to the felony, but Singleton said she most likely will be sentenced to two to eight months in jail.