The woman that disrupted the London-NY flight on Wednesday appeared in federal court yesterday.

The word is that she’s simply crazy, and not a terrorist, although her circumstances are more than a little suspicious:

Ms. Mayo’s 31-year-old son, Josh, told reporters in Vermont that his mother was a peace activist who had been visiting a Pakistani pen pal and that she had just had a “bad time” on the flight. It is unclear how long she had been in Pakistan, but she worked as a journalist there, writing columns for the Daily Times of Pakistan, assailing the war and American political policy.

Visiting a Pakistani pen pal? That’s sure odd.

Also, the woman had a screwdriver in her carry-on bag.

The story seems to be that she was feeling claustrophobic and went into some sort of panic attack. But then, why did she have the screwdriver? That implies some level of thought before boarding this flight. Stay tuned for developments….

Update, 11:37am: Reader DS Vet points out that she was lucid enough to understand that saying certain words would land her into trouble. From the Washington Times:

“She made reference to being with people associated with two words,” the affidavit said. “She stated that she could not say what the two words were because the last time that she had said the two words she had been kicked off a flight in the United Arab Emirates.”