Breaking News: A flight instructor jumped to his death during a lesson, leaving a student pilot to land the plane alone.
An Argentinian flight instructor, Leandro Andrés Bertazzo, 42, jumped to his death from a Cessna 150G aircraft on Saturday in Córdoba province, forcing his 22-year-old student pilot to land the plane without assistance. According to CNN, citing Argentinian affiliate TN, Bertazzo reportedly told the student, “You know what you have to do, carry on,” before exiting the aircraft mid-flight.
The incident occurred during a training flight operated by the Flying Parrot Córdoba flying school. School director Eduardo Álvarez described the act as “impossible to think about or understand”, attributing it to the complexities of the human mind. Álvarez stated opening a plane door mid-air would be comparable to opening a car door at 124 miles per hour. The student pilot, named Rosario, managed to land the aircraft safely, despite being in “complete shock”, with no damage reported to the plane. Prior to Saturday’s flight, Bertazzo had flown with another student earlier that day.
Álvarez revealed that Bertazzo had recently visited a psychiatric institute, information previously known only to his family. Prosecutors in Córdoba have launched an investigation into the death, and the aircraft has been taken into police custody. The circumstances surrounding Bertazzo’s decision remain unclear, but his actions prompted a rapid response and a successful emergency landing by his student.
The investigation is ongoing, and authorities are seeking to understand the factors that led to Bertazzo’s fatal act. The incident raises questions about mental health screening for flight instructors and the protocols in place to prevent similar tragedies.
Sources: CNN, Fox News.
