An All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight en route to the United States had to return to Tokyo after a 55-year-old intoxicated passenger, believed to be American, bit a cabin attendant during the flight, causing mild injuries, according to a statement from the Japanese carrier on Wednesday.
The incident occurred over the Pacific with 159 passengers on board, prompting the pilots to divert the plane back to Haneda airport.
The passenger was subsequently handed over to the police.
The bitten crew member reported the incident, with the intoxicated passenger allegedly claiming not to recall his behavior during the investigation.
This occurrence led some social media users to draw parallels in mock horror to the “beginning of a zombie movie.”
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Meanwhile, others expressed concern over recent aviation incidents in Japan, including a near-catastrophic collision at Haneda on January 2 between a Japan Airlines aircraft and a smaller coast guard plane.
Fortunately, all 379 people on the JAL Airbus escaped before it caught fire, but five individuals on the smaller aircraft died.
In subsequent incidents, a Korean Air airliner’s wing tip struck an empty Cathay Pacific plane while taxiing in Hokkaido, causing no injuries, and an ANA aircraft had a non-injury contact incident with a Delta Air Lines plane at a Chicago airport.
Another ANA flight had to turn back after a crack was discovered on the cockpit window of a Boeing 737-800.
Aviation expert Doug Drury explained that such incidents, including wing strikes and cracked windows, are not uncommon due to airports handling larger planes than initially designed for.
He suggested that the cracked window might have resulted from a faulty window heat system due to extreme temperatures at altitude, a phenomenon he noted as not uncommon in his career.
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