Pilot threatens to crash plane with 200 passengers

ROME -- An Italian pilot has been grounded, just minutes before he was due to take off, after telling his estranged wife he would crash his passenger jet if she left him.  The 200 passenger flight was scheduled to fly from Rome Fiumicino to Japan before the police apprehended him and a substitute pilot was given control of the flight, with passengers unaware of their narrowly averted fate.

 Although the incident has only just been brought to light, it occurred in January of last year, just two months before German pilot Andreas Lubtiz deliberately crashed his airbus into the Alps, killing himself along with 149 passengers and crew.  The Italian pilot, who is in his 40s, reportedly sent his wife a text threatening to kill himself and the 200 passengers on board the plane.

 The pilot was already known to police in his hometown of Padua, after his wife has reported him for mistreatment.  After announcing she was leaving him he threatened her, saying he would commit suicide.  When this scare tactic didn’t work, he sent her a text informing her of his new decision for the destiny of the plane that night.

 She immediately contacted the police and the catastrophe was averted with minutes to spare, after they alerted officials at Rome’s outskirts airport.  After the incident the pilot was suspended and is allegedly still undergoing psychiatric evaluation, as reported by Italian media on Saturday.

 The pilot and airline both remain unnamed, though a spokesperson for Anpac, the Italian pilots’ union, revealed that a similar incident had also occurred three years ago.  On that occasion the pilot was flying with Alitalia, and was again suspended after his wife raised the alarm.  That pilot was allowed to return to flying eventually, after various undergoing checks and psychological analysis.

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