Fallbrook

A Fallbrook woman said Monday she and a companion expected to fly home from Mexico today in their four-seat Bellanca Viking, which had been grounded by Mexican officials because it was believed involved in drug smuggling.

Pam Vanderlinden, 74, the mother-in-law of “Peanuts” cartoonist Charles Schulz, said she had been prohibited from flying out of Puerto Vallarta since Saturday morning because airport authorities there told her the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency ordered the plane held.

Vanderlinden said she and her traveling companion, Kay Brick, 77, both pilots, would probably be given clearance to leave today after meeting with Jeanette McGill, the U.S. consular agent in Puerto Vallarta.

“I can’t believe the DEA is so stupid,” Vanderlinden said in an interview with the Associated Press. “If they (authorities) had made any inquiries about us, they would have realized the tootie old ladies in tennis shoes were quite harmless.”

The women were free to leave the country but chose to remain in Mexico until they could fly their airplane out.

The airplane was included on a list of suspected smuggling vehicles provided by the DEA to Mexican authorities, Vanderlinden said.

“I’m sure it’s a mistake and exactly what the mistake is, I don’t know,” she said.