Flight instructor jumped midair to his death, left student to land the plane

ArgentinaFlight instructor jumped midair to his death, left student to land the plane Argentinian authorities investigating the suicide of Leandro Andrés Bertazzo, who had apparently not told his boss he was been under psychiatric care. Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00ShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJuly 9, 2026, 2:18 PM EDTBy Corky SiemaszkoHigh in the skies over Argentina, a flight instructor at the controls of a Cessna 150 suddenly turned to his student and reportedly said, “You know what you have to do, carry on.”Subscribe to read this story ad-freeGet unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Then he took off his headset, unbuckled his seatbelt, shoved open the door, and jumped out of the plane, the Argentinian news outlet TN reported.The 22-year-old student, identified in the news account only as Rosario, already had a pilot’s license and was able to safely land the aircraft.The incident is now under investigation by the Federal Court of Córdoba, Argentina, and the plane has been impounded, NBC News has confirmed. Authorities have not yet revealed why 42-year-old Leandro Andrés Bertazzo leaped to his death Saturday from the Cessna.Eduardo Álvarez, director of the Flying Parrot Córdoba flying school where Bertazzo worked, told TN they only recently learned that the flight instructor had been under psychiatric care and that he had no clue Bertazzo was planning to kill himself.In fact, Álvarez said, Bertazzo had gone on a training flight with another student earlier that day.“He made this tragic decision aboard an aircraft with one other person by his side,” Álvarez said in the interview. “There’s no way to think about it or understand it, but the human mind is so complex, so treacherous.”As for the student pilot, Álvarez said she was “very clear, decisive, mature, and professional.” “She was very shaken, but with complete professionalism, she piloted the plane to the airfield and landed perfectly,” he said. “She maintained a very...