Student pilot lands plane after instructor jumps to his death

A routine training flight ended in unimaginable tragedy when a young student pilot was forced to land an aircraft on her own after her instructor allegedly jumped from the plane mid-flight.

According to the Daily Mail, the 22-year-old student had been flying with her instructor, 42-year-old Leandro Bertazzo, in a Cessna C-150 during a training exercise in Argentina when the incident unfolded.

The student, who is believed to hold a pilot's licence but has limited flying experience, later told investigators that the pilot opened the aircraft's window before jumping from the plane.

Despite witnessing the horrifying incident, she remained composed and successfully landed the aircraft unassisted at Coronel Olmedo Airport, where the flight had begun, before immediately alerting authorities.

Emergency teams later located Bertazzo's body in a nearby field approximately 20 minutes after the student identified the area where she believed he had fallen. The circumstances surrounding his death remain under investigation

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Eduardo Alvarez, director of the Flying Parrot Cordoba flight school where Bertazzo had worked as an instructor for the past four years, revealed details of his conversation with the shaken student.

He told Argentinian media: "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."

According to local reports cited by the Daily Mail, Bertazzo had reportedly received neuropsychiatric treatment in the past, although it is understood that only close relatives were aware of his condition before Saturday's tragedy.

Bertazzo had described himself online as a former commercial pilot in Chile before working as a flight instructor in Argentina.

Student pilot lands plane after instructor jumps to his death