A dramatic incident unfolded in the skies over Argentina when Leandro Andrés Bertazzo, a 42-year-old flight instructor, was conducting a training flight in a Cessna 150 with his 22-year-old student, Rosario, CNN affiliate TN reported.
Without warning, he removed his headset, unbuckled his seatbelt, told the stunned student, "You know what you have to do, carry on," then opened the aircraft door and jumped to his death.
Despite her young age and limited experience, Rosario regained her composure and safely landed the aircraft on the runway.
Eduardo Álvarez, director of the flight school where Bertazzo worked, told TN that there had been no warning signs that the instructor intended to take his own life, and that earlier the same day, Bertazzo had completed another training flight with a different student 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."
He added that Bertazzo was "a beautiful person with a great smile." Noting the difficulty in opening a plane door mid-flight, he stressed, "We are surprised that this has happened."
The plane was not damaged.
Police have opened an investigation to determine what led the flight instructor to jump from the aircraft mid-flight, leaving the young student alone in a life-threatening situation.