Airline pilot threatened to kill 200 passengers if wife left him

The unnamed 40-year-old pilot was stopped minutes before taking off by police

An Italian pilot allegedly threatened to crash his passenger jet if his wife left him, but was stopped minutes before taking off by police.

The unnamed 40-year-old received a text from his wife before his flight from Rome to Japan, saying that she would leave him. In his response to this, he sent her a text threatening he would kill himself along with the 200 passengers on board, The Times reported.



The wife immediately alerted officers at Rome’s Fiumicino airport after receiving his text, who then were able to replace the pilot without the passengers' knowledge.

The reported incident occurred in January last year – two months before German pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed Germanwings A320 into the Alps – and was kept secret until now.

Allegedly, after threatening to kill himself failed to persuade her to stay, he sent the text about deliberately crashing the plane.



Now suspended, he is still said to be undergoing psychiatric evaluation.

This article originally appeared on Independent.