Artist gets 22 days for air rage attack - Update

A US court has convicted a Russian-born artist of assault in a bizarre incident aboard a plane in which she drank a bottle of liquid hand soap and attempted to bite the flight crew.

A court in Bangor, Maine, convicted Galina Rusanova, 54, on three counts of assault and sentenced her to 22 days in jail for her drunken outburst last month aboard a London-bound United Airlines flight from Los Angeles.

Rusanova, who has a British passport and lives in London, was released after her conviction because she had already spent 22 days in custody while awaiting trial. Roughly three hours into the April 29 flight, the plane had to be diverted to Bangor after an intoxicated Rusanova became unruly and scuffled with flight attendants.



According to an FBI report, she began punching and kicking until she fell to the floor of the cabin, at which point she began "snapping like a dog" while attempting to bite a crew member's leg.

Court papers revealed that Rusanova ran into the bathroom and consumed an entire container of liquid soap while a flight attendant looked on.

According to investigators, she was in the United States to visit a man she met on the internet. She said that because of a fear of flying, she consumed sleeping pills, antidepressants and wine, thus sparking her erratic behaviour. "It's typical of me. I sometimes do crazy things," she told investigators.

Previously.