A 22-year-old student pilot was forced to take control of a plane and land it alone after her instructor allegedly jumped from the cockpit during a training flight in Argentina.

The young woman was flying in a Cessna C-150 with instructor Leandro Bertazzo, 42, when the terrifying incident unfolded Saturday afternoon near the small town of Toledo in Córdoba province.

Investigators are still trying to determine exactly what happened. However, the student reportedly told officials that Bertazzo opened the aircraft’s door or window and jumped while the plane was still in the air.

Despite witnessing the instructor plunge from the aircraft, the student kept her composure and managed to fly back to Coronel Olmedo Airport, where the pair had taken off.

She landed the plane safely without assistance before alerting authorities and identifying the area where she believed Bertazzo had fallen.

His body was discovered about 20 minutes later in a nearby field.

Bertazzo, who described himself online as a former commercial pilot in Chile, had worked as an instructor at the Flying Parrot Córdoba flight school for four years.

Eduardo Alvarez, the school’s director, said the student gave a chilling account of the instructor’s final moments.

“At one point Leandro told her, ‘You know what to do, keep moving forward,’” Alvarez told Argentine media.

“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 Alvarez, the student immediately sent a message reporting what had happened and then turned the aircraft around.

“She proceeded to return to the runway to land,” he said.

Alvarez described Bertazzo as someone who was “always smiling” and said nobody at the school had suspected he was preparing to make such a shocking decision.

“He took this tragic decision on board a plane with a person by his side,” Alvarez said.

“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.”

Authorities have stressed that the circumstances remain highly unusual and that investigators have not yet reached a final conclusion about how Bertazzo left the aircraft.

One possibility being examined is whether a mechanical problem involving a hatch, door or safety system may have contributed to the incident.

Officials are inspecting the aircraft, reviewing the flight school’s records and analyzing communications made while the plane was in the air.

Local reports also claimed Bertazzo had previously received neuropsychiatric treatment, although that information was reportedly known only to close family members before the tragedy.

Alvarez praised the student for remaining calm under unimaginable pressure.

He described her as “very clear, decisive, mature and professional.”

“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.”

The woman is believed to hold a pilot’s license but reportedly had only a limited number of flying hours.

Earlier that same day, Bertazzo had completed another flight with a different student before climbing into the cockpit with the 22-year-old.

The investigation remains ongoing.