Leandro Bertazzo’s father said the experienced flying instructor had been through ‘a difficult time’ before jumping to his death during a training flight in Argentina
A pilot who jumped to his death from a plane mid-flight leaving his student to land it alone had been through “a difficult time”, his father has said.
Leandro Bertazzo, 42, was conducting a training flight with a 22-year-old student over Córdoba in central Argentina on July 6 when he is said to have unstrapped himself.
He reportedly told her: “You know what to do, keep moving forward,” before jumping to his death. The trainee said the instructor removed his headset, gathered his belongings, unfastened his seatbelt and opened the aircraft door before jumping.
She initially believed he had deployed a parachute, but soon realised he had not. Mr Bertazzo’s body was found in a field after colleagues launched a search near where he exited the Cessna C-150.
Eduardo Alvarez, director of the flight school where Mr Bertazzo had worked for several years, said the instructor’s father told him his son had been through “a difficult time”.
Argentine outlet Para Ti reported that Mr Bertazzo had attended an appointment at a psychiatric hospital a week before his death. The publication said he was single, had no children and lived with his parents.
His student was praised after safely landing the aircraft despite the ordeal.
Mr Alvarez said she was left “very shaken” but showed “complete professionalism” by returning the plane to the airfield and making a “perfect landing”.
He added: “She maintained a very high level of training and professionalism.”
Mr Alvarez described Mr Bertazzo as an “excellent professional” who was “always cheerful” and admired by his students.
He said: “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.”
Mr Alvarez said the instructor had completed another training flight earlier that day without any problems and appeared to be his usual cheerful self.
He told La Nacion: “He arrived, we greeted each other with a kiss and a hug as always. The only thing that stood out was that, instead of coming in his own car as usual, he had asked a student to pick him up from the house where he lived with his parents.
“They were chatting away, and everything seemed fine.”
Mr Alvarez added that Mr Bertazzo had been applying for a job with a major airline and that colleagues had noticed no warning signs during the regular medical and mental health assessments required every six months.
Argentina’s Federal Justice of Córdoba is investigating the incident.
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