Why I heart France: Reason #1

French smoker tried to open plane door.



A French woman has admitted attempting to open an aeroplane door mid-flight so that she could smoke a cigarette.

Sandrine Helene Sellies, 34, who has a fear of flying, had drunk alcohol and taken sleeping tablets ahead of the flight from Hong Kong to Brisbane. The French tourist was at the start of a three-week holiday in Australia with her husband.

She was seen on the Cathay Pacific plane walking towards a door with an unlit cigarette and a lighter. She then began tampering with the emergency exit until she was stopped by a flight attendant.

Defence lawyer Helen Shilton said her client had no memory of what had happened on the flight on Saturday, and that she had a history of sleepwalking.
She pleaded guilty to endangering the safety of an aircraft at Brisbane Magistrates Court and was given a 12-month A$1,000 (£429) good behaviour bond - she will forfeit the money if she commits another offence.

p.s. I would like to sample whatever "sleeping tablets" she was taking.
(don't believe me? Go see for yourself: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4456076.stm)