An American passenger accused of biting a flight attendant’s arm in a drunken rage has been pictured being led out of Japan’s Haneda airport by the perpetrator.
The glasses suspect, mentioned by the Japanese outlet TBS news as 55-year-old Michael Travis Halyard, who allegedly forced the flight to return to Tokyo on its route to Seattle on Tuesday evening, and was immediately arrested after the ANA Airlines plane landed on the runway.
He reportedly told investigators that he had taken sleeping pills and that he had “no recollection at all” of his alleged antics during the flight, which left the hostess slightly injured.
According to his website, Halyard was named one of America’s top mental health professionals in 2006, and specializes in sex addiction, mental disorders, relationships and gambling addiction.
The alleged biting incident is just the latest in a terrifying series of aviation disasters, with two passenger planes colliding at a Japanese airport just a day before the biting incident.
The glasses suspect, reportedly identified as 55-year-old Michael Travis Haliyad, forced the flight to return to Tokyo en route to Seattle on Tuesday evening after allegedly biting a flight attendant
The passenger on the ANA plane said he took sleeping pills before allegedly sinking his teeth into the crew member’s arm while ‘heavily drunk’, causing her minor injuries (File Photo)
The incident prompted the pilots of the plane with 159 passengers on board to return across the Pacific Ocean to Haneda Airport, where the man was handed over to police, according to ANA (File Photo)
The passenger’s alleged behavior occurred while he was “heavily intoxicated,” prompting the plane carrying 159 passengers to turn over the Pacific Ocean.
ANA told MailOnline: ‘On January 16, NH118, departing from Tokyo Haneda to Seattle, returned mid-flight due to an intoxicated passenger behaving in an unsafe manner towards the flight crew and passengers.
‘Upon arrival at Haneda Airport, the passenger was handed over to local police. No passenger injuries were reported and the flight has been rescheduled for January 17.”
The airline added: ‘The safety and security of our passengers and employees is ANA’s top priority and we will take all necessary measures to ensure this.’
The bizarre incident caused some social media users to liken it to the “beginning of a zombie movie” in mock horror.
It comes after several other aviation disruptions and near-disasters have rocked the industry in recent times, with two passenger planes colliding just hours earlier at New Chitose Airport on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.
A Korean Airlines plane clipped a parked Cathawy Pacific Airways plane just as the Korean plane was preparing to take off.
There were 289 passengers on board the Korean Air plane during the incident, although fortunately no injuries were reported.
A more serious incident occurred two weeks earlier at Haneda Airport, when a near-catastrophic collision occurred on January 2 between a Japan Airlines plane and a smaller Coast Guard plane.
All 379 people on board the JAL Airbus escaped just before the plane went up in flames.
Five of the six people on board the smaller plane, which was helping in a relief operation after a major earthquake in central Japan, were killed.
Just two weeks ago, a more serious incident occurred at Haneda Airport when a Japan Airlines plane collided with a smaller coast guard plane. All 379 passengers and crew on board the commercial flight were successfully evacuated moments before the plane was destroyed by flames
Chilling photos of the A350 plane in daylight show nothing but the wings and the piles of ash that remain
It also comes as Boeing’s 737 MAX 9 plane, a workhorse for the aviation industry, has come under scrutiny in recent months.
Most notably, on January 5, the plug door on Alaska Airlines’ new plane blew out at 16,000 feet after only eight weeks of use.
Pilots flew the plane back to Portland, with only minor injuries among passengers.
A terrified passenger on board the near-catastrophic flight revealed the moment she texted her family ‘I don’t want to die’ after a plane door plug blew out.
Emma Vu took to TikTok after surviving the horror Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.
“At that moment I was so scared,” Vu said, showing her panicked text messages to her family that read: “The masks are coming down; I’m so scared right now; Please pray for me; Please, I don’t want to die.’
In an interview with 7News Australia, she added: ‘I was more worried about the plane falling… I looked outside and it went quite smoothly. I think everyone panicking inside made me panic.”
Shocking footage from inside the plane showed airmen sitting in eerie silence shortly after the door plug exploded, looking out of a gaping hole in the fuselage with the twinkling lights of Portland below.
Vu said she was asleep when the devastating safety error erupted out of nowhere and she “felt the whole plane fall.”
A photo shows the blown out door plug. It is offered as a door on the plane. Alaska chose not to take this option – even though the frame of the future door was completely torn out due to the hull failure
Passenger Emma Vu said she “felt the whole plane fall” about 20 minutes into the horror Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which flew from Portland to California before a door plug flew into the air at 16,000 feet.
Alaska Flight 1282 was leaving Portland just after 5pm local time last Friday when a door plug blew out at 16,000 feet
“The masks are falling and people are screaming,” she continued, alongside a tearful selfie she took in the moment she feared could be her last.
She said: ‘I’m so grateful for the ladies who sat next to me… They were so sweet to calm me down, and the flight attendants gave oxygen tanks to those who needed it more.
“But I panicked because my bag wouldn’t inflate — and that’s literally what they tell you in terms of safety, like, don’t worry, you’ll still get airflow… If you’re in fight or flight I don’t think about that.
‘It was just so scary, no one knew what was happening. The pilot came over and told everyone to put their masks on before helping others – literally word for word what they tell you in safety training.”
