Female passenger strips naked on flight to JFK

Airport police removed an emotionally disturbed passenger who stripped naked mid-flight between Chicago and New York City Saturday night, authorities said.

The woman, a coach passenger in her 30s whose name wasn't made public, was brought to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, said Jennifer Friedberg, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which runs the airport.

The aircraft made an expedited landing, according to an announcement over the plane's public address system, said David Holland, a Newsday news manager who was aboard the plane.

The woman began to take her clothes off about 20 minutes before Delta Flight 6562 - which departed at about 6 p.m. from Chicago O'Hare International Airport - began its descent into New York's Kennedy Airport, Holland said.

As flight attendants tried to cover her with a blanket, she began crying, yelling and saying, "No! No! No!," Holland said.

"She didn't seem like she was coherent," said Holland, who was seated several rows behind the woman.

He said of fellow passengers, "Everybody was leaning in, trying to get a view of what all the commotion was."

Once the plane landed, just before 9:30 p.m., the other passengers got off the plane before the police removed the woman, Holland said.

Friedberg said the woman was not expected to be criminally charged.

"She was deemed an emotionally disturbed person," Friedberg said last night.

A federal official briefed on what happened said the incident was a medical situation and that national security was never in danger.

Betsy Talton, a Delta Air Lines spokeswoman, said Sunday: "A passenger became unruly and was restrained. Law enforcement met the aircraft upon arrival."

Talton said she didn't know more details about the passenger, such as where she was from, and referred further inquiries to the government.