Posted on 07/08/2026 9:07:02 AM PDT by Red Badger
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.com ...
Yeah, well it was photo shopped - cool anyway.
“So how much of the flight did she log as dual vs. solo?”
Neither.
I love Columbo. I don’t recall that scene. Thanks for the link.
Always reminds me of Running Scared (the one with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal), when the captain said they determined what killed the jumper: “Let me guess, cement poisoning?” “Deceleration Trauma.”
congratulations, I soloed at 6 also. my instructor opened his door on a flight to show me how hard it was to open in flight. he said you could steer the plane with the doors if you lost rudder control. I don’t know how much he was joking around but we did it a little bit and it worked.
That’s the one where Dick Van Dyke was the perp.
he must have been very determined to jump.
you couldn’t just fall out, the wind is pushing against the door making it nearly impossible to open. The window opens really easily... but would be a REALLY tight fit, that would only be possible if the man was REALLY thin and VERY determined to climb out.
This was no accident.
I’ll never be over Macho Grande.
Back in 1974 thru 76, I was part owner of a 59 model Piper Tri-Pacer (4 seat high wing single).
Once, when I took a date up and cruised around. The right front door latch popped loose. She screamed and wrapped her arms around me.
Of course it only opened about an inch because of the wind pressure. I reached around her, grabbing the handle; a quick tug, and closed it.
She let go of me then, and I thought, “That was stupid, I could have left her latched on to me, and latched door later”. But it was so LOUD, and we didn’t have headsets.
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