KUALA LUMPUR – Japan’s aviation woes this year continue as a Seattle-bound All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 118 had to turn back to Tokyo last Tuesday after a drunk passenger bit a female cabin crew member.
The 55-year-old American man claimed that he could not recall his behaviour, which left the flight attendant with bite marks, and that he had taken a sleeping pill.
He had to be restrained by the cabin crew before being handed over to the Tokyo police.
In less than three weeks into the new year, Japan saw a fatal collision at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport between a Japan Airlines (JAL) aircraft and a small coast guard plane on January 2.
All 379 people on board the JAL Airbus escaped unscathed, while five of the six coast guards lost their lives.
Yesterday, the wingtip of a Korean Air plane struck an empty Cathay Pacific aircraft while taxiing at the New Chitose airport in Hokkaido.
Korean Air said the accident happened after “the third-party ground handler vehicle slipped due to heavy snow”.
A similar mishap took place last Sunday when an ANA aircraft came into “contact” with a Delta Air Lines plane at a Chicago airport. No injuries were recorded in both incidents.
Another ANA flight had to turn back last Saturday after a crack was discovered on the cockpit window of its Boeing 737-800. – January 17, 2024