All Nippon Airways Flight 61

All Nippon Airways Flight 61 was a scheduled domestic flight from Tokyo Haneda Airport in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan and was en route to New Chitose Airport in Chitose, Japan, near Sapporo. On 23 July 1999, the Boeing 747-400 operating the flight with 503 passengers on board, including 14 children and 14 crew members on board, was hijacked by Yūji Nishizawa, a Japanese passenger on the flight.

Incident

About 25 minutes after takeoff at 11:48 A.M. JST, Nishizawa used a kitchen knife which was 20 cm long, to force a flight attendant to allow him access into the cockpit. He then forced 34-year-old First Officer Kazuyuki Koga out, remaining in the cockpit with 51-year-old captain Naoyuki Nagashima, who managed to notify Air Traffic Control (ATC) about the hijacking. Nishizawa stabbed Nagashima in the chest and took control of the plane, at one point descending to an altitude of 300 m.

At 12:09 P.M. JST, crew members managed to subdue Nishizawa. Off-duty pilot Junji Yamauchi, who was aboard the flight, took control of the aircraft, and co-pilot Koga got back into the cockpit, telling the air traffic controllers, "It's an emergency. The captain was stabbed. Prepare an ambulance." The plane made an emergency landing at Haneda Airport at 12:14 P.M. and Nishizawa was immediately arrested. A doctor confirmed the death of Nagashima, of Yokohama, shortly after the plane landed. Nishizawa was charged with murder.