Tokyo Haneda Airport: Flight to America forced to turn back after 'drunk' passenger bites crew member

A flight was forced to return to Tokyo, Japan, after a drunk passenger allegedly bit a crew member. The ANA aircraft was bound for America and was heading over the Pacific Ocean when the incident happened.

The incident prompted the pilot to return back to Haneda Airport. The aircraft was carrying 159 passengers. 

The passenger, said to be a 55-year-old American, allegedly bit a flight attendant’s arm while "heavily drunk", mildly injuring her, an airline spokesperson told the AFP news agency. According to local media, the man was handed over to police, where he told investigators that he had taken a sleeping pill and didn’t remember what had happened at all.

The incident comes following a series of flight incidents in Japan as of late. The most serious was a collision between a Japan Airlines aircraft and a smaller coast guard plane on 2 January at Haneda Airport.  

All 379 people on board the JAL Airbus escaped with moments to spare before the aircraft was engulfed in flames. But five of the six people on the smaller aircraft, which was helping in a relief operation after a major earthquake in central Japan, died.

On Saturday 13 January a crack was discovered in the cockpit window of an ANA flight in Japan, forcing the aircraft to turn back. The crack appeared in the outermost layer of the window and there were no injuries to anyone on board.

In a third incident on Tuesday 16 January a Korean Air Lines plane collided with a Cathay Pacific Airways aircraft at New Chitose Airport. The incident caused no injuries and Korean Air said it occurred after "the third-party ground handler vehicle slipped due to heavy snow."