QUIRKY WORLD ... Intruder boarded a private plane with intention to fly it

USA: A woman talked her way past a security guard and entered the cockpit of a private plane at an Illinois airport before she was caught and taken to a hospital for psychiatric observation, authorities said.

Police in Sauget, Illinois, say the 38-year-old St. Louis woman entered a 20-seat Global Express jet on the tarmac of the St Louis Downtown Airport at about 4am.

Detective Sergeant Vito Parisi said the woman had started driving to Lambert-St Louis International Airport but instead wound up at the smaller airfield across the Mississippi River. The plane, which is owned by a Hong Kong bank, was undergoing maintenance.