On July 4, a 22-year-old student named Rosario took off from Coronel Olmedo Airport in central Argentina for a routine training flight. She landed alone.
Her instructor, Leandro Andrés Bertazzo, 42, was a highly experienced pilot who had worked at flying schools in both Argentina and Chile. Midway through the flight over Toledo, he turned to Rosario and said, “You know what you have to do, carry on,” CNN affiliate TN reported. He then removed his headset, stowed his phone, arranged his belongings, unfastened his seatbelt, opened the door of the Cessna C-150, and jumped.
The aircraft was approximately 850 feet in the air at the time, reported Del Sur Diario. Bertazzo’s body was recovered in a nearby field approximately 20 minutes later.
Rosario radioed Coronel Olmedo Airport to report what had happened, then brought the aircraft in and landed it without damage. She had only a few hours of flight experience.
Eduardo Álvarez, director of Flying Parrot Córdoba, the flight school where both Bertazzo and Rosario trained, described the landing to local media. “She was very shaken, but with complete professionalism she flew the plane to the airfield and made a perfect landing,” he said. “She maintained a very high level of training and professionalism.” He described Rosario as “very clear, decisive, mature and professional”—which, given the circumstances, is an almost impossible understatement.
No One at the Flight School Knew the Instructor Was Struggling
Álvarez said nobody at the school had any indication Bertazzo was struggling. “That day, we saw Leandro like any other. He arrived cheerful, kissing everyone as usual.” The flight with Rosario was his second instructional flight of the day. He had taken another student up earlier without incident. “He made this tragic decision on board an aircraft with another person by his side,” Álvarez told TN. “It’s impossible to think about it or understand it, but the human mind is so complex.”
Bertazzo’s father told Argentine outlet La Nacion that his son had been going through a difficult period and had recently sought psychiatric treatment — something Álvarez said the school was completely unaware of. Under aviation regulations, pilots are grounded if any condition could affect their ability to fly safely.
Argentine prosecutors have launched an investigation into the incident. No formal complaints have been filed. The plane was undamaged. Rosario is alive. How she processes what happened up there is a question nobody on the ground can answer for her.
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