A student pilot was forced to land her plane alone after her instructor ‘jumped’ from the aircraft during their flight in Argentina.
The 22-year-old had been training with her instructor, Leandro Bertazzo, 42, in a Cessna C-150 when he evacuated the aircraft.
Although investigators are looking into the reasons behind his sudden death, the student, who is believed to have a pilot’s licence but few flying hours under her belt, has claimed he opened the plane’s window and jumped.
Despite watching Mr Bertazzo plunge to his death, she still managed to land the Cessna C-150 safely and unaided at Coronel Olmedo Airport, where they took off, and alerted authorities to the emergency situation.
Mr Bertazzo, who described himself online as a former commercial pilot in Chile, was then found dead 20 minutes later in a field in the area the woman marked out as the place he could have fallen.
Eduardo Alvarez, director of flight school Flying Parrot Cordoba where Leandro had worked as an instructor for four years, recounted his conversation with the young student who said he ‘jumped’.
He told Argentinian media: ‘At one point Leandro told her, “You know what to do, keep moving forward.”
‘He took his headphones off, arranged his belongings including his mobile phone, took his seatbelt off, opened the door which is very difficult to open and jumped out.
Leandro Bertazzo, 42, is believed to have jumped from a plane mid-flight while training a student pilot
The 22-year-old was then forced to Cessna C-150 alone and unaided at Coronel Olmedo Airport, where they took off, and alerted authorities to the emergency situation
Emergency services were seen at the field where the Mr Bertazzo’s body was found
‘She sent a message informing about the situation and proceeded to return to the runway to land.’
Describing Leandro as a man who was ‘always smiling’ and admitting no-one had suspected he was about to take such a dramatic decision, he added: ‘He took this tragic decision on board a plane with a person by his side.
‘There’s no way to think about it or understand it, but the human mind is so complex, so treacherous. That’s why what happened, happened.’
An investigation into the bizarre accident, which happened on Saturday afternoon near the small town of Toledo in the province of Cordoba in Argentina, is ongoing.
Officials have said the circumstances surrounding the tragedy are so unusual they cannot offer any explanation for the moment as to how it could have happened.
One of the lines of inquiry investigators are thought to be studying is whether the incident may have been the result of a mechanical failure related to a hatch or one of the aircraft’s safety systems.
They are checking the plane’s and flight school’s documentation and analysing communications maintained while the plane was in the air before the instructor fell out of it.
Local reports said Leandro had received neuropsychiatric treatment, although only close relatives were apparently aware before Saturday’s tragedy.
Mr Alvarez described the student as ‘very clear, decisive, mature and professional.’
He added: ‘She was very shaken, but with complete professionalism she flew the plane to the airfield and made a perfect landing. She maintained a very high level of training and professionalism.’
Earlier in the day of the incident, Mr Bertazzo had taken another student out to fly before getting into the cockpit with the 22-year-old student.
