Seattle-bound flight turns back to Tokyo midair after 'heavily drunk' passenger allegedly bites flight attendant

Flight 115 bound to Seattle from Tokyo's Haneda Airport turned back to the point of origin early Wednesday after an American passenger allegedly bit the arm of a flight attendant. 

The alleged biter was a 55-year-old man who, after the biting attack, was restrained by All Nippon Airways crew as the plane turned around over the Pacific Ocean and headed back to Haneda. He was arrested upon arrival in Tokyo. 

The man claimed that he had taken a sleeping pill and does not remember the incident, reports Kyodo News. Other reports stated that the man was intoxicated and "heavily drunk" when he "sunk his teeth into a crew member's arm."

The flight carried 159 passengers. 

This comes just weeks after a collision on the runway at Haneda between a commercial carrier and a Coast Guard plane. Five of the six persons on the Coast Guard plane were killed, thought all 379 passengers on the JAL Airbus made a safe escape.

In the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, a Korean Air plane hit a Cathay Pacific plane while taking off, with the wing tip striking the empty Cathay aircraft.