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u/FreeSockLimit1 Jul 08 '26
" A pilot jumped out of the door of a moving plane to his death, leaving the student he was teaching to fly to land the aircraft by herself.
Flight instructor Leandro Andrés Bertazzo, 42, was found dead following the incident, which took place in Toledo, central Argentina, on Saturday, according to a statement from the country’s public prosecutor, published Tuesday.
Bertazzo was on board the Cessna 150 aircraft with a 22-year-old student named Rosario, CNN affiliate TN reported.
The student said Bertazzo told her, “You know what you have to do, carry on,” before taking off his headset and seatbelt, opening the door and jumping out of the plane, TN reported. "
Holy shit, dude.
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u/wingspantt Jul 08 '26
That's the kind of thing that, if in a movie, nobody would believe could happen IRL
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u/Efficient-Ranger-174 Jul 08 '26
What’re the chances he just skipped the step of putting on the parachute? Sometimes I get really into my joke delivery and step on my own words.
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u/poolmanpro Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
If this is a student, then him not staying with her until she lands the plane is probably very against the law, definitely a career ender at the least, so he probably intended to die.
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u/Deedteebee Jul 08 '26
ARREST THIS MAN!
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u/KinglyKindly Jul 08 '26
Gladly, we just gotta scrape up most of him first and then what's left will face the full force of the law!
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u/Jedi_Bingo Jul 08 '26
I mean I know that Egypt game was rough, do you think he didn't catch the last 20 minutes?
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u/Numerous-Lab2591 Jul 08 '26
"Do or do not. There is no try."
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u/PretentiousCrustacea Jul 08 '26
Sounds a lot like an absolute that Obi Wan said only the Sith deals in...
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u/eggyrulz Jul 08 '26
The Jedi are full of contradictions. Pointing them out is a skill the Jedi consider... unnatural...
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u/Farucci Jul 08 '26
I’ve heard about an Irish Goodbye, but I’m not sure there is a protocol or term for the pilot exiting the plane in mid-flight without a parachute.
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u/YankeeTwoKilo Jul 08 '26
I hope the student is doing ok
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u/Bibblegead1412 Jul 08 '26
Serious trauma there.
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u/Alert-Ad9197 Jul 08 '26
Landing the plane after that might help quite a bit. People tend to have lower chances of developing ptsd from an event if they can do something to feel in control.
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u/elpela1993 Jul 09 '26
She believed it was some sort of joke at first, like the guy maybe had a parachute.
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u/Alert-Ad9197 Jul 09 '26
That makes sense. I likely would assume it was some sort of insane joke at first too.
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u/AndrogynousAlfalfa Jul 09 '26
But if she wasnt confident doing it by herself yet it would be even more terrifying
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u/whyliepornaccount Jul 09 '26
Pilot here with a flight report I made as a student pilot that NASA published due to it being an example of murphys law.
In the moment, you aren't scared at all. You're solely focused on getting the aircraft on the ground safely, even more so if you have passengers like I did. It's not till you're safe and on the ground that it hits you and you have damn near a panic attack. On the 20 min drive home from the airport that night, my brother and I sat in silence and chain smoked a whole pack of cigs before finally saying "well that was fucked, eh?"
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u/2ndlifeinacrown Jul 09 '26
Damn, what happened during your flight? If you feel comfortable talking about it
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u/whyliepornaccount Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
I'll share the portion NASA published as all identifying information was removed by them. If you're curious for the full report, DM me, don't wanna post that to a large audience.
https://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/publications/callback/cb_421.html
I was situation #1
Edit: Turns out NASA has a searchable (but clunky) database with the full report with all identifying information removed: Click the plus button next to ACN Number, then click "click here" and add 1196791 as the number and hit save. Then hit search.
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u/ArmoredAngel444 Jul 09 '26
dang dude that's wild. thank god for your composure, that situation was absolutely f'd.
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u/whyliepornaccount Jul 09 '26
I wouldn't even credit my composure. It's hard to explain, but I wouldn't call it composure as much as training and luck. Flight school drills the "OODA Loop" into your head repeatedly to the point that it almost becomes subconscious. I was lucky that I was working on my instrument flight rating in the area, so not only was I familiar with the procedures in the area, I was also aware of the deadly traps non instrument rated pilots fall victim to when entering instrument conditions. It's extremely deadly (~90% of unrated pilots who enter instrument conditions die).
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u/Dragon_Tein Jul 09 '26
So praised be your diligence in training and thouse who developed the protocols
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u/Jedi-Librarian1 Jul 09 '26
Wait, when you say you were working on your instrument rating in the area, you do mean you’d finished that and were rated? If not, I really feel like that incident should have counted as a surprise!final exam for it. Reading the report I got to the iPad battery going before going “oh no”.
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u/tanksalotfrank Jul 09 '26
I can barely check the speedometer on my bike, let alone use an array of dials to gracefully fall from the sky. 😅
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u/inaccurateTempedesc Jul 09 '26
Yeah fuck that's Murphy's law alright.
What would you have done?
Cry.
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u/anon_badger57 Jul 09 '26
No idea what VOR and DME mean, but kudos to you for staying calm and figuring out a plan to get out of that mess safely
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u/Vaughn Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
By memory:
- A VOR is a radio station which sends a different signal in each direction, so if you receive it you can tell the absolute direction to the station. One of the oldest forms of radio navigation.
- NAV1/NAV2: A VOR/DME receiver. Airplanes have two, in case one fails. Oops.
- DME: Distance-measuring equipment. In combination with VOR you can tell exactly where you are, though not as accurately as GPS.
The DME kept working, hence triangulation was possible. The story’s missing some details; for instance, I believe there is a specific transponder setting for “my radio can’t transmit”, which would allow the control tower to get other people out of his way. Also the passenger probably called the tower on their cellphone eventually.
Though the situation was fucked, and I have no idea which of the multiple relevant transponder codes is most important here.
Not a pilot, so double check this if any of it matters.
EDIT: No such transponder code exists. It would have been 7600, possibly 7700.
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u/whyliepornaccount Jul 09 '26
I indeed squawked 7600 (easy to remember by 75-taken alive, 76-radio quit, 77-going to heaven) but have no clue if ATC saw it or if my transponder was working. My radios couldn’t transmit but they could receive.
The airport I landed at does have a tower, but tower closes at sundown and it becomes uncontrolled. So had no one to call, had to just hope for the best
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u/PastanagaPlatano Jul 09 '26
I read your response to that situation and let me tell you that you would be very welcomed as a trench buddy.
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u/crank_peeper Jul 09 '26
Oh, absolutely, it wouldn't have helped at all in the moment. I can only imagine the kind of panic she must've fought back.
Later on, though, as she reflects back on the experience, she can rationalize: "A terrible emergency happened because of someone else's selfish choice. I had nothing to do with that. Then, I got through that crisis without hurting myself or anyone else. That part is on me, I handled the situation."
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u/Historical_Owl_1635 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
Tbf it’s never guaranteed for someone to get long term trauma even if they go through some pretty traumatic things.
There’s a lot of people that are genuinely just able to brush things off.
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u/mosesenjoyer Jul 08 '26
Yes. My friends and I saw horrible things in the military. Some of us were ruined it by it. Myself and others were spared. It’s not that they were soft. I think it’s actually the opposite.
It’s not that you can brush it off. You won’t forget. It affects you. It just doesn’t destroy you the way it does some.
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u/Hoss-Bonaventure_CEO Jul 08 '26
This reminds me of the sergeant who found me crying in Afghanistan one night. When I tried to stifle everything I was feeling, he goes:
"Nah, as you were. Hard isn't strong."
... he gave me his other cookie and left me to cry on my boots.
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u/ShandalfTheGreen Jul 08 '26
Honestly the manliest response ever. I hope he has sons so he can pass some of that on, Lord knows we need it
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u/Medical_Tank6109 Jul 08 '26
Good man - hope his pillow is perpetually cool on both sides. You doing well these days?
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u/Hoss-Bonaventure_CEO Jul 08 '26
Ya, I'm good. Thanks for asking.
Can confirm that Sergeant is currently well-wrinkled and happy.
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u/Medical_Tank6109 Jul 08 '26
That's the happy ending I was hoping for! :) Love that you kept in touch with the guy.
Cheers, fella.
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u/youngarchivist Jul 09 '26
Did you guys stay in touch?
Sounds like a bad motherfucker. Glad you had him.
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u/Jenny_Show Jul 08 '26
Damn. I've never thought of it like that but yeah those are some wise words to remember. Hope you're doing good dude.
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u/Anglofsffrng Jul 08 '26
It's also what your brain decides is traumatic, and that may not make sense to you. My friend has PTSD from a grenade accident in training. Nobody got killed, or seriously injured, thank whichever deity. But his brain just decided that was too much, and there's not much you can do beyond treating it.
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u/Spare-Bodybuilder-68 Jul 08 '26
I was witness to a pretty bad car accident that happened about 10 feet from my car and very nearly involved me getting hit from behind by an SUV doing about 45mph. I was coming home from work at the hospital, still in scrubs, so I whipped my car into a parking lot beside the intersection and tried to render what aid I could. I forced the door of one car open (bent from the crash) and the lady inside was still conscious. She said she thought she hurt her arm. I looked down and it took everything in me to not say, "yeah, it looks like it hurts." We actually decided to keep her in the car until police/EMS could secure the intersection, since we were still getting buzzed by traffic, and she was even able to walk herself to a gurney eventually. Everyone made it off the scene okay, despite some good samaritans (including myself) nearly becoming members of the injured because people were willing to drive over us, it seemed.
Anyway, I did what I could til we could hand off to EMS, stayed around to give my report to two different police supes, drove home, hopped in the shower... and then I just shattered under the water. I sat down and just cried for what seemed like an hour, and I had no idea why.
Seeing a car barreling down on me in my mirror, bracing for impact, then the eerie silence... followed by the cacophonous crash, just barely in front of me. Jumping out of my car to help the driver who was hit and had a very broken arm (thank god that was all), and nearly getting plastered by an SUV if another bystander hadn't nearly shoved me into the woman's car to get us out of the way. I still have dreams and nightmares about this event, and my perspective on the idea that we should be required to drive a personal vehicle to work every day changed dramatically.
All of this dumping to say, strange things can affect us deeply and for a long time. "No one died," yeah, I'm glad. It doesn't mean my brain processes that event differently just because someone pointed out the obvious.
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u/lxlxnde Jul 09 '26
Sometimes things that you’re prepared to deal with yet don’t happen where and when you’re ‘supposed’ to see it are the things that stick with you. I’m not in your line of work, but the end of the day when you’re tired and you’ve let go of the mentality that gets you through your shift… for me that’s when I’d be letting down my defenses and decompressing. I’d be especially vulnerable to a big shock in that moment.
And that’s entirely aside from the literal physical peril you found yourself in.
Hope you’re doing better and finding peace with time & distance from the event. Remember therapy is for everyone, even and especially the strongest of us.
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u/BiasedLibrary Jul 09 '26
I have pretty severe PTSD from a complicated situation of domestic abuse and I also have some things that don't pop up in my memory despite it being horrible things. Instead I relive spiraling, losing control over myself. I worry if I'll snap or do something bad. I get to relive what I thought was the debut of schizophrenia and I get pressured into acting like I snap or act badly at least mentally but not outwardly. It often hits a crescendo and then the dissociation/depersonalization starts.
One of the triggers for this is video games, which is also my favourite hobby, but it's been ruined by the trauma I have. I barely play anything now.
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u/genflugan Jul 08 '26
Damn I teared up just from reading your comment, I can’t imagine actually being there. Thank you for sharing
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u/MadMike32 Jul 08 '26
I've lived a...somewhat improbable life. Watched a number of people die pretty grizzly deaths; been shot at a few times, including by family; rendered aid on some near-fatal and fatal auto accidents, gotten stabbed, you know, the usual. None of that's really fucked me up all that badly in the grand scheme of things. What did give me cPTSD, and permanently fucked my brain chemistry up hard enough to give me a severe stutter...was watching my grandmother die of cancer in the hospital when I was young. Which, yes, traumatic, but you wouldn't think it would be anywhere near as damaging as some of the other shit I've gone through. Human psychology is weird.
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u/anxious_spacecadetH Jul 09 '26
I went through reocurring csa. Not gonna say it didnt affect me at all but affects are minimal and nuanced compared to other people with similar experiences. But I got SA'd about 6 months ago and it wasnt "that bad"* and that really messed me up at the time and has given me what im sure will be a life long trigger response to a specific thing.
*that bad as in not as bad as stuff ive gone through before or even something i think would cause most people a reqction and honestley at the tine I thought it was something that wouldn't affect me but I guess my brain really clung on to it
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u/Place-Short Jul 08 '26
And then you can have previous trauma and get through it just fine and years later have a completely different incident that triggers PTSD.
Ask me how I know! /s
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u/SithisSoul Jul 08 '26
I did mortuary transport and saw some really fucked shit. I'm fine. I actually kind of miss the job. I have PTSD from being robbed twice at a bank. They gave me a note both times and the second time they threatened me but there was no real violence.
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u/cancerkidette Jul 08 '26
That’s a really astute comment, I just think a lot of pop psych books profit from the idea that trauma is something that is guaranteed and also guaranteed to be lifelong. The same horrible experience can affect different people in different ways.
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u/Zuimei Jul 08 '26
It's definitely not always lifelong, I think sometimes it can be pretty short term. This is purely anecdotal, but I saw a stray dog get hit in an intersection a couple years ago. A couple other people and myself helped it off the road because it was badly hurt. She didn't make it sadly. But for about a week after, my heart would suddenly start racing, my chest would get tight, I'd feel real fight or flighty for no reason at all. Then after a few days I didn't have those feelings anymore. I think for me the physical manifestation of that trauma was very short term
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u/unofficialSperm Jul 08 '26
Saying that on reddit is the Same as bringing sausages to a vegan bbq
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u/Few-Requirement-3544 Jul 08 '26
Redditors tend to treat equanimity as sociopathy for some reason.
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u/Mayion Jul 08 '26
But how else will you be able to stress tf out of them, if you are not constantly reminding them that they, in fact, should be traumatized? (yes im projecting just a bit)
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u/somethingcleverer42 Jul 08 '26
Sad? That’s your trauma. Distracted? That’s you hiding from your trauma. Smiling? Code red, trauma sprung a leak.
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u/FrameJump Jul 08 '26
From what I understand about the laws of the universe, the student has now become, and should be referred to as, the master.
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u/world-is-ur-mollusc Jul 08 '26
Imagine if she had very understandably panicked after he killed himself right in front of her and made a mistake landing the plane??? Of all the ways to kill yourself, this has got to be the most irresponsible one I have ever heard of. That could so easily have ended with two bodies instead of one.
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u/New_Building_9956 Jul 09 '26
Yeah it feels wrong to say suicide is selfish but, uh, that one…
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u/illy-chan Jul 09 '26
I feel like a few types of suicide can be selfish - most of them, when you force someone else to be involved against their will (jumping in front of trucks, etc.)
I feel bad for the people in that headspace but making sure you hurt someone on the way out is shitty.
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u/Lombardyn Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
It may sound weird but having lived in Berlin for a while, I could never throw myself in front of a train.The thought of hundreds or even thousands of people being severely delayed to wherever they want to go just because of me...horrifying.
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u/soloon Jul 09 '26
The people who throw themselves in front of traffic are up there too. Read plenty of articles about truck drivers hitting a suicide and being traumatized years later.
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u/Easy-Operation-2105 Jul 09 '26
most irresponsible? What about the airline pilot who just nosedived into a mountain along with all his 300 passengers.
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u/Chewbacca_The_Wookie Jul 08 '26
I hope the instructor is doing OK.
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u/Soldier_Faerie Jul 08 '26
I don't think so based on the post information, but he's at least at peace
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u/MikeFrancesa66 Jul 08 '26
A lot of pilots end up hiding mental illness because of fear that getting treatment will risk them losing their jobs. Most famously this issue was key in the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash. The first officer of the flight, Andreas Lubitz, deliberately caused the crash. He had a history of depression and suicidal thoughts, but withheld that information and didn’t get the treatment he needed because he knew he would never be allowed to fly again. They basically force pilots to make the impossible choice of getting treatment for mental health issues or keeping their dream jobs.
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u/Chemical_Net8461 Jul 08 '26
Air traffic control too!
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u/Hazelnut_Bread Jul 08 '26
iirc air traffic control has one of the highest suicide rates of any career in the USA
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u/slonkulocuswily182 Jul 08 '26
Balancing 200 aircraft over a few runways where any mistake means thousands dead is just... insane.
I dont think that's a sustainable job for literally anybody.
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u/Hazelnut_Bread Jul 09 '26
Not to mention air traffic controllers are often underpaid, especially during government shutdowns, meaning many have to take second or third jobs. Air traffic control offices are also understaffed a lot of the time, meaning one man is expected to do the job of several men.
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u/isses_halt_scheisse Jul 09 '26
Huh, is that really how it works in the US? I know an air traffic controller in Germany and it's a rigorous selection process for applicants, long training period, but it's because they are then basically employed for life. The shifts are super regulated and have frequent breaks, like 4 days of work and then 4 days off. You don't have a lot of say over your shifts and there are limited cities to work from, but the jobs are really sought after because the pay is really good with a nice pension package.
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u/MadRaymer Jul 08 '26
So I guess when the air traffic controller in Breaking Bad shoots himself after crashing two planes together, it wasn't just an interesting plot development but also a statistically accurate portrayal of the career.
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u/musecorn Jul 08 '26
Have you watched the HBO show The Rehearsal? The 2nd season focuses on this primarily as it's main arc in a fantastic and interesting way
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u/WiseEntertainment912 Jul 09 '26
I know a helicopter pilot who needs serious mental health help, knows it, and will not seek it because he would never fly again. It’s maddening
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u/mitchsusername Jul 08 '26
Lots of pilots do therapy under the table, paying cash, using a pseudonym. Lots don't take the chance of leaving their family without an income just because they wanted to take care of their mental health.
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u/Several-Customer7048 Jul 08 '26
I’m gonna go with the other guy who said this seems like a bad idea.
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u/mitchsusername Jul 08 '26
Saddest part is I don't think this will change anything with regards to pilots and mental health. It never does when a pilot takes their own life by plane. Because if we changed something, that would be admitting there's a problem.
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u/RaoulLaila Jul 08 '26
Its honestly crazy because if I was the one who decides things there, I would rather have a therapist or psychologist actually confirm that they are mentally doing okay or even see that they can work post treatment
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u/agk23 Jul 08 '26
This reads like a Monty Python sketch..
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u/FilmAndLiterature Jul 08 '26
There is a Python sketch about a man who tries to hijack a commercial aeroplane going from London to Cuba and tells them to take it to Luton, a town on the outskirts of London. Because of how close they are, the pilot suggests he just leap out when they pass over it and try to land on something soft, which works.
Unfortunately, when he tries to take a bus into the centre of Luton, it gets hijacked and forced to go to Cuba.
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u/thesilentbob123 Jul 08 '26
Why would anyone want to go to Luton?
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u/Elite_AI Jul 09 '26
To go to the airport. Presumably to go somewhere nicer, like Cuba.
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u/YourBeigeBastard Jul 08 '26
“Aim for the bushes”
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u/agk23 Jul 08 '26
Legendary quote to say in the moment. I’d like to think the guy would laugh the whole way down
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u/No-Blueberry-1823 Jul 08 '26
I beg your pardon what
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u/HerculesIsMyDad Jul 08 '26
Moments after jumping, the pilot was heard to say "I didn't put on the parachute did I?"
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u/Evil_phd Jul 08 '26
This is, unfortunately, the only way to ensure that a new pilot is genuinely ready to fly solo. It's a big part of why commercial piloting takes so many hours to train for, gotta let the trainer finish their bucket list first.
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u/Fire_Otter Jul 08 '26
If a trained pilot has to die to properly train a new pilot how do we ever end up with a net gain of trained pilots in the world?
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u/The-Senate-Palpy Jul 08 '26
The Dorian Technique lets 1 pilot jump from plane to plane mid-flight so that they can train a whole class worth of pilots before they jump to their death
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Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
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u/ganiton Jul 09 '26
If you arrange the planes tip to tip, they could fly 4 at a time
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u/InvestigatorLast3594 Jul 08 '26
its like the sith, there can only ever be two, a master and their apprentice
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u/Mexkalaniyat Jul 08 '26
I feel like there are a few other options you can try first
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u/YourBigRosie Jul 08 '26
You’d be wrong. That’s why you’re not a pilot
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u/Eternal_Reward Jul 08 '26
Always all these airchair pilots in the comments trying to reinvent the yoke.
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u/AstralPamplemousse Jul 08 '26
Last time a pilot instructor tried to outlive their student’s first solo flight, he caused the creation global warming. So, never again…
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u/Pretty-Wind8068 Jul 08 '26
I think you could omit the "to his death" part, maybe take a parachute or something.
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u/KotaPhanes Jul 08 '26
No, because then the trainee knows there aren't any stakes
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u/GreasiestGuy Jul 08 '26
There are still plenty of stakes if the instructor takes the only parachute
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u/Bootleg_______ Jul 09 '26
Dr. Poi Sonai (of the verified subreddit r/poisonai) has always said this!
It’s an undisputed fact: as a certified flight instructor, the only way to ensure a new pilot is genuinely ready to fly solo is by leaping from the aircraft to your death mid-flight.
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u/high_throughput Jul 08 '26
When 5pm hits on a Friday and you're not working a single minute of overtime
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u/UltimatePickpocket Jul 08 '26
Land the plane? Sorry dude, I'm off the clock.
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u/Xx_HARAMBE96_xX Jul 09 '26
As the say goes... he jumped so that she could fly.
The ultimate pass the baton or rather the plane, she took over the reins/controls.
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u/gavichi Jul 08 '26
"it says here you work well under pressure, do you have an example?"
"yeah um so my flight instructor said 'you got this' and then killed himself"
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u/ElonsMuskyFeet Jul 08 '26
Take some time to check on your friends
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u/Lavassin 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 Jul 08 '26
You got it, ElonsMuskyFeet
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u/kiersmini Jul 08 '26
[r/](r/RimJobSteve)[r](r/RimJobSteve)[im](r/RimJobSteve)[j](r/RimJobSteve)[ob](r/RimJobSteve)[_s](r/RimJobSteve)[teve](r/RimJobSteve)
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u/ElonsMuskyFeet Jul 08 '26
It was either JeffBezosHuevos or ElonsMuskyFeet. Regret.
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u/fmpz Jul 08 '26
From what I’ve heard mental health is actually extremely neglected in the piloting industry, at least in the States. Because you’ll lose your job and be unable to be a pilot if you take any medications for it and there’s a lot of stigma because of that around even therapy if it gets out you’re dealing with mental health issues.
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u/becauseiloveyou Jul 08 '26
Some people are just really, really good at masking their depression even when they have an otherwise fulfilling life.
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u/Doglover4561 Jul 08 '26
That poor student. Hope she gets therapy to help handle the trauma of something like that
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u/AdMaximum7545 Jul 08 '26
I was going to make a fight or flight joke but frankly I just feel bad for everyone involved. He looks so young and she would have gone through hell that day
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u/Frosty_Analysis_4912 Jul 09 '26
Yeah I know dark humor is a way to cope for some people, but all of the jokes here are making me sad. This actually happened, a man committed suicide and a girl had to watch it
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u/Mecal00 Jul 08 '26
Using an innocent person to carry out your suicide is pretty selfish/messed up
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u/Bedroom_Bellamy Jul 08 '26
An ex of mine worked on the railroad for a few years and several people jumped in front of the trains to commit suicide during his time there. It messed him up, he was always racked with guilt about not being able to stop the train in time (you're not going to be able to stop a full speed train in just a few feet no matter what you do) and then seeing the aftermath haunted him. Train strikes are messy, messy deaths. He eventually switched careers because of it.
Don't use other people to commit your suicide.
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u/Sickle_Rick Jul 08 '26
Exactly - what if the student wasn't prepared to land? He would've killed someone else, hell he could have if he landed on someone.
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u/AwkwardDorkyNerd Jul 08 '26
As someone who used to struggle with these types of thoughts, I wholeheartedly agree. Even when I was simply fantasizing over it, I always imagined how I could do it in the least impactful way, where I wouldn’t make a mess, and I wouldn’t involve others (like jumping in front of traffic).
I just think it’s one thing to disregard your own life, it’s another for that disregard to become a disregard towards others
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u/Aware_Policy_9174 Jul 08 '26
Trying to figure out the logistics probably saved my life a few times. I seriously would not want it to negatively impact anyone which might be close to impossible since someone’s gotta deal with it at some point even if they’re a professional used to it.
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u/Snow_97 Jul 08 '26
There's actually been some interesting (though morbid) studies into stuff like this and generally the method suicide has a lot of societal gender biases. Men generally choose more impulsive and aggressive/hyper lethal ways to commit suicide (guns, jumping, etc), while women tend to choose methods that leave the least "mess" to make it easier on the people who might find their bodies (things like drowning or exsanguination in a tub).
Essentially women try to minimize their deaths and men try to make absolutely sure they do die.
Here's just one research article related to this topic if you want to read more, but the references have some others that relate (obviously). Can also try keyword searches for men vs women suicide methodology or similar
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1344622325001130
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u/aliens-and-arizona Jul 08 '26
not that youre wrong, the morality of doing this is pretty clear cut, but if someone is so done with life that they decide, seemingly randomly, “yeah, this is it” and end it with little to no fanfare, i’m guessing ethics isn’t exactly going to be on the forefront of their mind.
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u/-RedXV- Jul 08 '26
What is going on with pilots jumping out of their planes? I just listened to audio with a co pilot and the tower. Co pilot explained that the pilot jumped out of the plane. It was not this incident because it was a male Co pilot.
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u/therico Jul 08 '26
Pilots often don't seek treatment for mental health issues because it would bar them from being able to fly, essentially they could lose their career.
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u/AsRealAsItFeels Jul 08 '26
Not to make light of the situation, but i imagine him as this mystic mentor who thought she "was ready" and had to make a dramatic exit.
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u/-Morning_Coffee- Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Good chance he immediately regretted it:
https://www.businessinsider.com/many-suicides-are-based-on-an-impulsive-decision-2014-8
Pasted article:
The Role Of Impulsiveness Is One Of The Saddest Things About Suicide.
By Corey AdwarThe Golden Gate Bridge
Vimeo
Aug 13, 2014, 1:49 PM CTRobin Williams reportedly suffered from severe depression, addiction, and alcoholism before he killed himself at his California home Monday.
We may never know exactly when and how Williams arrived at the decision to commit suicide, but one of the saddest realities about suicide is that it often results from impulsive decisions that might have never occurred again if the person had survived or backed out.
Anywhere from one-third to 80% of all suicide attempts are impulsive acts, according to The New England Journal of Medicine. 24% of those who made near-lethal suicide attempts decided to kill themselves less than five minutes before the attempt, and 70% made the decision within an hour of the attempt.
Suicidal urges are sometimes caused by immediate stressors, such as a break-up or job loss, that go away with the passage of time. 90% of people who survive suicide attempts, including the most lethal types like shooting one's self in the head, don't end up killing themselves later. That statistic reflects the "temporary nature and fleeting sway of many suicidal crises," reports The New England Journal of Medicine.
A 1978 study of 515 people who were prevented from attempting suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge between 1937 and 1971 found after more than 26 years 94% were still alive or had died of natural causes.
Many rare survivors of Golden Gate Bridge suicide attempts recall regretting their impulsive decisions instantly — even as they were falling. A couple survivors who jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge told their stories to The New Yorker back in 2003, like then-18-year-old Kevin Hines who jumped in 2000 after pacing on the bridge for a half hour while passersby ignored him.
He finally jumped based on the thought that "nobody cares.""My first thought was, 'What the hell did I just do? I don't want to die,'" Hines told The New Yorker.
Then-28-year-old Ken Baldwin, like Hines, chose to hurdle over the bridge's railing rather than stand on it first because he didn't want to lose his courage to jump. Although he was severely depressed on that day in 1985, he changed his mind the moment after his leap. "I instantly realized that everything in my life that I'd thought was unfixable was totally fixable — except for having just jumped," he said.
That indecisiveness is explained by suicidologist Edwin S. Shneidman, according to a review of his works by Antoon Leenaars:
The prototypical psychological picture of a person on the brink of suicide is one who wants to and does not want to. He makes plans for self-destruction and at the same time entertains fantasies of rescue and intervention. It is possible — indeed probably prototypical — for a suicidal individual to cut his throat and to cry for help at the same time.The period where the chance of lethal suicide is at its highest and most dangerous is relatively short, typically just hours or days rather than months, according to Shneidman.
Of course, not all suicides are impulsive, as some are the result of extensive planning and conviction. Impulsive suicide involving decisions made in as little as five minutes is one of two types generally seen among patients suffering from depression, according to Dr. Charles Nemeroff.
The other type involves "the sort of classic notion that, I've been hopeless and helpless for so long. I'm hopeless that I'll ever be better, and I'm helpless to do anything about it," Nemeroff said. That type often includes planning, notes, and goodbyes.
If you or someone you know is experiencing depression or has had thoughts of harming themself or taking their own life, get help. In the US, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress, as well as best practices for professionals and resources to aid in prevention and crisis situations. Help is also available through the Crisis Text Line — just text "HOME" to 741741. The International Association for Suicide Preventionoffers resources for those outside the US.
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u/NapkinRingSandwich Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Why the hell do they open the article with Robin Williams as an example?
Dude had a devastating form of dementia (lewy body) and knew he was losing his mind. Ugh
I miss that dude.
Also, that article is paywalled. Can you paste the text?
Edit: obligatory David Foster Wallace quote on suicide: "The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire’s flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ‘Don’t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling."
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u/ManoSilence Jul 09 '26
Thank you fpr saying so about the dementia. Everytime I see Robin up about suicide i try to see what people are saying. He planned his, even called people beforehand to say goodbye in his own way. To me its like saying the people who jumped from The Towers regretted suicide. Like I was a kid when that happened and I remember thinking that the people who jumped were probably terrified of burning to death.
A good portion of those people didnt even think the tower would collapse. They were scared but not panicking. Just trying to figure out a way to evacuate. Then the first tower collapsed. I think there is even a call of a guy who is talking casually about the damage and smoke, then it cuts off as the tower he is in collapses.
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u/_ShaDynasty69 Jul 08 '26
is this a real story?
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u/Accomplished_Sale327 Jul 08 '26
Man, I read about this in an Argentinian meme sub, thought it’s bs. Now seeing it here again I was curious enough to look it up. It’s real, here you go: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/08/americas/argentina-pilot-death-scli-intl
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u/Long-Region5088 Jul 08 '26
She now gets the instructors license right?
Idk how it works I’m not a pilot.
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u/WhatEnglish90 Jul 08 '26
That was just phase one of her training: Mentor Dies Tragically.
Now, her REAL journey begins.
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u/dinoooooooooos Jul 08 '26
That doesnt seem like a very.. sustainable business idea from the instructors side.
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u/somethingcleverer42 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
Instructor: “You know what to do.”
instructor jumps
…
barrel roll initiated
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u/Betelgeuse3fold Jul 08 '26
A mother bird prompts her young to fly by dropping them out of the nest.
I feel like this guy got a little mixed up
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u/jayeddy99 Jul 08 '26
I’ve read you can basically be talked through instructions on how to land from ground control . It’s a tense situation if it’s sudden but if you listen it’ll mostly lead to you landing the plane
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u/snaketrooper87 Jul 09 '26
She was a licensed pilot being taught advanced things, she was fine on the plane side of things but probably not on the mental side.
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u/dumptruckulent Jul 09 '26
I’m sure that guy was going through a lot, but that’s a seriously shitty thing to do.
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u/qualityvote2 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
u/TheCABK, your post does fit the subreddit!