Officials briefing Japanese reporters said the All Nippon Airways plane landed safely at Tokyo's Haneda airport after the co-pilot and off-duty crew had regained control.

A sudden lurch when the hijacker was wrestling with the controls allowed ANA personnel to race into the cockpit and tie him to the pilot's seat with neckties and ropes, the officials said.

The co-pilot, who had been ordered out of the cockpit earlier, then landed the plane without incident.

The death of the 51-year-old pilot Naoyuki Nagashima, an 11-year veteran and father of two, was the first in the 20 Japanese plane hijacks on record. There were no other injuries among the crew or passengers.

Media reports said the hijacker, who attacked the pilot with a 30 cm-long knife, had been treated fordepression in the past and had a love of flight simulation computer games.

They said he demanded the plane fly to a US Air Force base in Yokota in western Tokyo.

``I wanted to soar through the air,'' the man reportedly told police. He also said he had wanted to fly under a scenic central Tokyo road bridge called Rainbow Bridge, and was said to be babbling in a high voice.

He also reportedly said he stabbed Nagashima because ``he didn't do as he was told.''