Passengers on a Japanese jumbo jet had a terrifying experience yesterday when a passenger who was an avid fan of flight-simulator video games killed the pilot and took the controls so that he could "soar through the air".

Yuji Nishizawa, who was eventually overpowered, told the police he wanted to fly the plane under the Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo and perform aerobatic manoeuvres.

Passengers said the hijacker - who was described as having scruffy hair and wearing dirty white gloves - pulled out an 8in knife and demanded to be taken to the cockpit minutes after take-off from Haneda airport, Tokyo.

The All Nippon Airways plane, carrying 503 passengers and 14 crew, was heading for the northern island of Hokkaido.

Once in the cockpit Mr Nishizawa forced out the co-pilot in a scuffle which caused the plane to sway violently. He told the pilot to change course to Yokota, a US military airbase north-west of Tokyo.

About 30 minutes later he stabbed the pilot in the neck and tried to switch off the autopilot, causing a rapid loss of altitude.

"I've never seen the ground so close before," Yasuhiro Fukuda, a passenger told reporters. "I really thought this was it."

As the plane was descending, the co-pilot and other crew members regained control in a second cockpit brawl. After binding Mr Nishizawa with ties and belts from passengers, they flew ANA Flight 61 back to Haneda.

According to TBS television, Mr Nishizawa, a 28-year-old graduate of Hitotsubashi uni versity, had been treated recently for depression and had tried to commit suicide.

The pilot, Naoyuki Nagashima, died of multiple stab wounds. The transport ministry said it was the first fatality in Japan linked to a hijacking.

The prime minister, Keizo Obuchi, expressed his condolences and ordered an investigation into how the hijacker had been able to carry the knife through airport security.

The authorities immediately ordered an upgrade of luggage inspection monitors at Haneda, but only five of the 19 units were replaced, the transport ministry said.