MEXICO CITY — When a helicopter landed on a grassy patch in an exclusive suburb here on a recent Sunday morning, Ignacio Vizcaìno, a mathematician and aircraft enthusiast, snapped a few photos from his window — and set off the latest scandal to rock Mexico’s political class.

The photos, uploaded to Facebook, showed a helicopter marked with the logo of Mexico’s National Water Commission and a family boarding it with their suitcases on March 29. David Korenfeld, the commission’s director, along with his wife and his children, were clearly not on official business.

After 10 days of frenzied news coverage of his use of the government helicopter, Mr. Korenfeld, a close associate of President Enrique Peña Nieto, resigned on Thursday. “As human beings we are always susceptible to making a mistake,” he said at a news conference. “But we must have the courage to accept them, apologize and assume the consequences.”

Mr. Korenfeld’s travails added a new picture to an expanding slide show of conspicuous consumption by Mexico’s political elite. The images of luxury watches and sumptuous mansions are stoking public indignation over what seems to be an elastic understanding by many public officials over how public money can be spent.