Student pilot successfully lands plane after instructor leaps out of cockpit to his death
A student pilot was forced to land her plane after her instructor 'jumped' from the craft, leaving her alone.
The 22-year-old had been training with 42-year-old Leandro Bertazzo in Argentina on Saturday 4 July in a small Cessna C-150 when something went very wrong, the Attorney General Carlos Gonella’s office announced.
Suddenly, Bertazzo is said to have left the aircraft, leaving the student – who is believed to have had a pilot’s license but only hours of flight time under her belt - to navigate the landing unaided at Coronel Olmedo Airport.
Authorities were then alerted to the incident, and emergency services were called.
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According to the student, Bertazzo had ‘jumped’ near the small town of Toledo in the province of Cordoba.
However, despite the statement from the student, and an ongoing investigation, the motive for Bertazzo’s ejection from the plane has not been determined.
One route authorities in Rio Segundo are developing is a potential hatch failure or aircraft safety fault which could allow the instructor to fall from the craft, noting the door would have been difficult to open.
However, Raul Marinho, technical director of the Brazilian General Aviation Association, told G1 that not only is it possible to open the door mid-flight, but - at least in the past - pilots were trained how to do it by pushing their feet against the door.
When the plane is flying at a low altitude, he says it's the equivalent of trying to open a car door while driving.
Sadly, the former commercial pilot's body was ultimately found 20 minutes after the student raised the alarm, in a field in the area she had mapped out as the place he would have left the craft over.
"You know what to do, keep moving forward"
Eduardo Alvarez, director of flight school Flying Parrot Cordoba where the instructor had worked, told Argentinian media of the conversation allegedly had between Bertazzo and the student.
He said: “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.”
This message is also what CNN affiliate TN reported the student as having told investigators.
“She sent a message informing about the situation and proceeded to return to the runway to land,” he added.
According to Alvarez, this wasn’t something anyone expected to happen, noting the instructor ‘took this tragic decision on board a plane with a person by his side’, adding of any potential reason: “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.”
"Mental health is taboo"
Bertazzo allegedly had been suffering mentally and had checked himself into a clinic - something that was only known to close relatives, the outlet reported.
“He had been in a neuropsychiatric institute, but nobody knew about it. Only his family,” Álvarez said.
Marinho said: "Mental health is taboo in all areas, but an even greater taboo in aviation.
"Mental health issues can lead a pilot to lose their medical certificate, which prevents them from flying."
Álvarez told TN: “There’s a very close student-instructor relationship in a professional sense, but none of those who flew with him, nor those of us who saw him, could detect that he was going to make that decision to jump out of an aircraft. Obviously, something was up."
As for how the student handled the situation, he called her 'very clear, decisive, mature and professional,’ adding: “She was very shaken, but with complete professionalism she flew the plane to the airfield and made a perfect landing. She maintained a very high level of training and professionalism.”
Topics: World News
Britt Jones