An Argentine flight school pilot jumped out of a plane and to his death while midair on Saturday, leaving his student to land the aircraft by herself.
“You know what you have to do, carry on,” flight instructor Leandro Andrés Bertazzo told a 22-year-old named Rosario before taking off his headset and seatbelt, opening the door, and jumping out of the plane, the student said, according to a report by CNN World.
The 42-year-old flight pilot was later found dead in Toledo, Argentina, the country’s public prosecutor announced on Tuesday.
Eduardo Álvarez — a director at the Flying Parrot Córdoba flying school where Bertazzo worked — told CNN affiliate TN that the flight instructor showed no signs that he planned to throw himself from the Cessna 150G aircraft.
“He made this tragic decision on board an aircraft with another person by his side,” Álvarez said. “It’s impossible to think about it or understand it, but the human mind is so complex.”
Álvarez also noted that Bertazzo had gone on a flight with another student earlier that same day.
Bertazzo was “a beautiful person with a great smile,” the flight school director told TN. “We are surprised that this has happened.”
Álvarez also explained that opening the door of an aircraft while it is flying midair is very difficult, and compared the endeavor to trying to open the door of a car that is traveling 124 miles per hour.
Rosario was able to land the plane safely despite being in “complete shock,” Álvarez said, adding that the aircraft made it to the ground undamaged.
Bertazzo was reportedly an experienced pilot who also worked as a flight instructor in Chile.
Argentine authorities are now investigating the incident “to clarify the circumstances” surrounding Bertazzo’s death, federal prosecutor Carlos Gonella said in a Tuesday statement.
The Cessna 150G aircraft has since been placed in police custody.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.