INSTRUCTOR JUMPED FROM PLANE MID-FLIGHT; STUDENT LANDED IT
An Argentina flight instructor jumped from a small plane in midair, and his student landed it safely.
Leandro Andrés Bertazzo, 42, was flying a Cessna 150 over Toledo, in Argentina’s Córdoba province, with a 22-year-old student named Rosario on July 4, 2026. He did not survive.
CNN reported that Rosario told Argentine outlet TN what happened next.
“You know what you have to do, carry on,” Bertazzo told her, she said.
She said he then took off his headset and seatbelt, opened the door and jumped.
Rosario landed the plane. The aircraft was undamaged, school director Eduardo Álvarez said, and Rosario was in “complete shock.”
Bertazzo’s body was found after the incident.
What the school director said
Álvarez runs Flying Parrot Córdoba, the flying school where Bertazzo worked as an instructor. He told TN there were no warning signs.
“There were no signs that the pilot was planning to throw himself from the plane,” Álvarez said.
He said Bertazzo had flown with another student earlier that day. He also said colleagues were surprised by what happened.
Álvarez compared opening a plane door in flight to opening a car door at 200 kilometers per hour (124 miles per hour).
“He made this tragic decision on board an aircraft with another person by his side,” he said. “It’s impossible to think about it or understand it, but the human mind is so complex.”
He described Bertazzo as “a beautiful person with a great smile.”
TN also reported that Bertazzo had worked as a flight instructor in neighboring Chile.
Proceso reported that Rosario held a private pilot license.
NBC News reported that the plane had been impounded and that authorities were investigating the death as a suspected suicide.
What happened next
On July 7, 2026, the federal prosecutor’s office in Córdoba announced it was investigating Bertazzo’s death.
The office said the provincial prosecutor’s office had declared itself not competent to handle the case and transferred it. Before doing so, the provincial office placed the aircraft under police custody.
Federal prosecutor Carlos Gonella was handling the investigation during the judicial recess, the office said. It said the aim was to clarify the circumstances of Bertazzo’s death.
The prosecutor’s office updated its notice on October 4, 2026. The investigation remained in progress, and no private complainants had joined the case.
