Flight disturbance charges may be dropped.

Byline: Rebecca Nolan The Register-Guard

A federal charge of interfering with a flight crew will be dropped against a University of Oregon graduate student if she successfully completes an 18-month diversion program laid out by the court.

Bogdana Atanasova Georgieva, 36, was arrested Jan. 11 after allegedly interrupting a United Express flight from Eugene to Denver.

Charging papers filed in U.S. District Court said Georgieva grew agitated, assaulted a passenger who asked to be moved to another seat and lunged toward the cockpit while shouting that she had a baby named Jesus, she was impregnated by her uncle and "President Bush was behind it all."

Two passengers subdued her.

The pilot diverted the plane to Salt Lake City, where Georgieva allegedly tried to run from police and said there was a bomb on the plane.

She was arrested and charged with interfering with a flight crew, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.

Georgieva, a Bulgarian studying physics at the UO, was hospitalized in the neuropsychiatric unit at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where she remained for several months.

Under the diversion agreement, Georgieva surrendered her passport until the 18-month supervision period passes and agreed to remain in Oregon during that time, unless she is deported or decides to leave the country. She cannot possess any weapons and is barred from commercial air travel without approval from her diversion supervisor.

Federal Magistrate David Nuffer in Salt Lake City ordered Georgieva to continue to seek mental health treatment and pay restitution to the airline. She also is barred from communicating with President Bush or his office, except through a lawyer.

Georgieva holds a doctorate in mathematics from Oregon State University, a master's degree from the UO and a bachelor's degree from Lewis & Clark College.