KEY POINTS:
A former All Black who tackled an airline passenger said he acted because he thought a baby was in danger.
Ofisa Junior Tonu'u, 38, Tonu'u, who played five tests for the All Blacks, admitted he was "shaken" after the attack, which occurred as flight NZ417 from Auckland was
landing about 10am yesterday.
Air New Zealand defended its security procedures in spite of the fact that airhostesses appeared unable to restrain the man, who had not taken medication for an undisclosed condition and was punching another man as their plane was landing at Wellington Airport.
The man, 42, was travelling with his parents and had also caused a commotion before a flight from Tokyo to Auckland.
Tonu'u told the Herald he watched from his back-row seat as the man argued and swore at a hostess after he tried to walk to the toilet during landing - an action prohibited because seatbelts must be worn during takeoffs and landings.
He said the man sat down and put his seatbelt on before "swearing terribly" at another passenger.
"He just unbuckled, stood up, went across the aisle and started punching this guy. When he got up, that's when I just unbuckled, jumped over and grabbed him because he got a couple of punches in and it looked like he was hitting an old man.
"I noticed because I remember the air hostesses taking a baby's bottle to the area where he was punching so I knew there was a baby there.
"I remember dragging him over andgetting him away from the lady's lap and I just saw a spare seat and just planted him on that one."
Tonu'u said it was quite an effort to restrain the man.
"He was pretty strong. I'm not weak but it took me a while to put him into his seat.
"I was fighting with him. He was just aimed at knocking this guy's head off. But we were obviously landing so I just tried to put him down on the seat. He just said, 'Let me go', and he wanted to have a go at him again.
"Some other guy was holding his arms and I was just basically sitting on top of him.
"I was a bit worried because I didn't know what he had on him and whether he was going to bite me because I was that far over his face, wanting to brace us for the landing as well as to sort of contain him. He could have done anything.
"Then his mother was saying, 'Peter, Peter, stop it, Peter', so I just kept on saying to him, 'Just calm down, Peter. Don't worry about it. We can sort it out, Peter, down there'. So I was always talking to him and then I could just feel him relaxing a bit."
Asked if other passengers were worried, Tonu'u said: "Everybody was ... The air hostesses were doing the best they could but they couldn't do nothing. He was way too strong for anybody.
"There was a couple of us holding him down but certainly the ladies would have struggled if they just had to do it themselves."
Tonu'u carried on to the two-day sports conference he was attending for work.
"I was just a bit nervous after it. I was a bit shaken, but I'm all right now."
Police are awaiting a report on the man's mental health before deciding whether to lay charges.
Air New Zealand spokeswoman Tracey Palmer said people could be assured security was adequate.
"There are several steps throughout the check-in process where customers are assessed ... Our cabin crew receive mandatory training in how to deal with disruptive passengers as part of their comprehensive training programme."
