SHOCKER: A training flight in Argentina became a fatal aviation case after flight instructor Leandro Andrés Bertazzo reportedly exited a Cessna 150G midair, leaving his 22-year-old student to finish the flight alone.
The incident happened Saturday, July 4, in Toledo, Córdoba province. Argentina’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office No. 2 in Córdoba said federal prosecutor Carlos Gonella is investigating Bertazzo’s death after the case was transferred from the provincial prosecutor’s office in Río Segundo. The office also confirmed that the Cessna 150G was placed under police custody as part of the initial investigation.
Bertazzo, 42, was an instructor at Flying Parrot Córdoba. Reports said he was on his second flight that day from the Coronel Olmedo airfield with a student identified only as Rosario, who already held a private pilot license but still needed to complete additional flight hours with an instructor.
According to Rosario’s account cited in Argentine reports, Bertazzo told her, “You know what you have to do,” before removing his headset, setting aside his belongings, unfastening his seatbelt, opening the aircraft door, and falling from the plane. The aircraft was about 250 meters, or roughly 850 feet, above ground.
Rosario was suddenly left alone in the cockpit. She kept control of the Cessna, contacted the flight school, and landed safely. The aircraft was not damaged, and she survived without physical injury.
Flying Parrot Córdoba director Eduardo Álvarez said the school saw no warning sign before Bertazzo boarded the 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.”
Reports said Bertazzo had aviation experience in Argentina and Chile and had worked with the flight school for years. Álvarez said the school only learned after the incident that Bertazzo had been going through personal difficulties, according to accounts attributed to his family.
