A flight instructor died after jumping from a Cessna 150 aircraft over Argentina's Córdoba province, prompting the 22-year-old student pilot to land the plane alone.
Leandro Andrés Bertazzo, 42, made the decision to jump from the two-seat plane on Saturday. According to Eduardo Álvarez, director of the Flying Parrot Córdoba flying school where Bertazzo worked, the instructor told the student, identified as Rosario, "You know what you have to do, carry on," before removing his safety gear and exiting the aircraft.
Álvarez described opening the plane's door mid-flight as extremely difficult, comparable to opening a car door at high speed.
Despite the shock of the event, Rosario managed to land the Cessna safely without any damage to the aircraft, authorities reported.
Bertazzo had reportedly visited a psychiatric institute, a detail known previously only to his family. Prosecutors in Córdoba are leading the investigation into his death, and the aircraft has been impounded as part of the inquiry. Bertazzo had flown with another student earlier the same day.
