A woman arrested after forcing a WestJet flight to make an emergency landing in Winnipeg last month pleaded guilty Wednesday to criminal mischief.

Barbara Morton, 47, also pleaded guilty in a Winnipeg courtroom to a single charge under the national Aeronautics Act for not following the directions of an airline cabin crew.

Morton struggled through tears to say, "yes" when asked by Judge Dale Schille in provincial court if she understood the charges against her and the ramification of her guilty pleas. Throughout the hearing, she could be heard crying and was often seen holding her face in her hands.

A WestJet plane with 131 people on board was headed to Halifax from Calgary when Morton, from St. John's, N.L., tried to open a door to the outside in mid-flight.

Court was told that an hour into the flight, Morton told a flight attendant, "I need morphine now, I'm on major withdrawal. I'm going to open that … door — I'm getting off."

Defence lawyer Greg Hawrysh said Morton was in Calgary to take her 13-year-old son to a special clinic for those with Tourette's syndrome. He will remain there for nine months.

About two days before the flight home to Halifax, Morton, who suffers from panic attacks, lost her OxyContin pills.

"Accidentally, they had fallen down the toilet," Hawrysh told court.

A psychologist who examined Morton said in a report that she may have been overcome by a sudden sense of delirium from the OxyContin withdrawal symptoms.

Made dash for door

While on the flight, Morton made a dash for one of the exit doors and attempted to open it.

Three flight attendants and several passengers tackled her. During the struggle, she bit a 77-year-old man and kicked an airline employee in the face, court was told.

Morton was eventually subdued and restrained in her seat with plastic ties.

She was arrested and charged with mischief, assault, endangering the safety of an aircraft and failing to comply with instruction of the cabin crew.

The assault charges were stayed by Crown prosecutor John Peden Wednesday in exchange for Morton's guilty plea on the other charges.

Peden said there was no way Morton could have opened the airliner's door because the difference between air pressure inside and outside the aircraft sealed it completely.

The passengers were never in any danger, he said.

Barring Morton having superhuman strength, "It would be impossible for her to open the door," Peden said WestJet officials told him.

Nevertheless, Peden told Schille the passengers were terrified.

"There was more than just a little trauma from a mental point of view for what she had done," the veteran Crown attorney said.

Court heard that Morton was on probation at the time for an assault and theft that took place in St. John's.

Passengers stranded

Court heard Wednesday that the diverted flight cost WestJet $6,202 for additional fuel and landing fees as well as to take care of passengers who missed connecting flights.

Morton, who has been in police custody since her arrest, was sentenced to 97 days behind bars.

She has already served 37 days.

Once released, she will be on probation for three years and was ordered to get counselling. She cannot get on any aircraft unless cleared to do so by a doctor.

WestJet has barred her from all flights for the rest of her life, court heard.

She will also have to reimburse WestJet for the costs of the diverted flight.

Morton has been in isolation at the Winnipeg Remand Centre since her arrest. Guards at the facility are concerned for her safety should she be moved to general population because of her slight size, Hawrysh said.

Doctors at the facility have refused to give her an OxyContin prescription, court heard.