Key Takeaways
On Christmas Eve in 1971 , a young woman ’s life-time changed eternally when she found herself plummeting through the sky in the midst of a thunderstorm . That woman wasJuliane Koepcke , the sole subsister of a tragical carpenter’s plane crash in the Peruvian rain forest .
The fact the 17 - year - honest-to-god survived the fall from the crumbling plane was miraculous in itself , but what come next try Koepcke even further .
The LANSA Crash
Juliane Koepcke was born in 1954 to German zoologists Maria Koepcke and Hans - Wilhelm Koepcke .
When she was 17 age honest-to-god , she and her female parent board LANSA Flight 508 in Lima , Peru , journey to meet Koepcke ’s father at thePanguana enquiry stationin Peru . Maria and Hans - Wilhelm had found the post together just a few years before , in 1968 .
However , their journey took a crushing turn when the plane , en route to Pucallpa , Peru , was hit by a lightning strike , get it to break apart midair .
Amid the thunderstorm , Koepcke fell about 10,000 feet ( 3,048 time ) , still strapped into her sheet place , into the impenetrable Amazon jungle . Later , she recalled thinkingthat the top of the trees resembled heads of broccoli as she was plummeting to the Earth .
Alive and Alone
At some point , Koepcke lost consciousness during the decline but miraculously survived the impact , wake up amid the airplane clang wreckage in the Peruvian hobo camp to identify she was the only survivor out of 92 passengers .
She suffered injuries , including a broken collarbone and deep cut in her berm , although her trial by ordeal was just beginning .
Survival in the Amazon
Despite her injuries , Koepcke ’s selection instincts kick in . She managed to free herself from her behind amid the woodworking plane crash wreckage and began navigating the treacherous terrain of the Amazonrainforest .
For 11 daylight , she battled against hunger , thirst and severe worm bites , surviving only on a packet of sweets she ’d found in the plane ’s wreckage . Although deliverance plane searched for survivors from the clangour , the hobo camp ’s heavy botany meant the savior could n’t spot Koepcke .
An Essential Education
luckily , she may have been intimately equipped than most the great unwashed tosurvive a sheet crashand the ensue circumstances . Her parent had spent metre meditate the animals of the local rainforest , so she was conversant with some of the native plant and beast .
Then she come down asleep .
Rescue and Return to the Crash
Koepcke wake up the following good morning when the Peruvian forest workers recall . They were just as startled to see her as she was them . Luckily , her parents had taught her enough Spanish that she was able to communicate who she was and what had happen to her .
The men helped her travel out of the remote wild by canoe toreach a hamlet . Then rescue workers lift her to a Peru hospital , where she get aesculapian aid for her physical trauma and was reunited with her begetter .
After she was well enough , Koepcke help search parties to help locate the woodworking plane clangor situation and recover the organic structure of the victim , let in her mother ’s .
The Legacy of Juliane Koepcke
Despite the trauma she endured as a result of the carpenter’s plane crash , Koepcke returned to her parents ' aboriginal Germany , where she continued her education . In 1989 , Koepcke get hitched with Erich Diller , a fellow scientist who shares her passion for the natural world .
Koepcke , now also sometimes known by her married name , Juliane Diller , became the director of Panguana , the enquiry place that had been so important in her parents ' lives . In 2011 , Koepcke wrote a memoir shout " When I fall From the Sky , " recounting her harrowing experience .
Curious Coincidence With Werner Herzog
The fact that Koepcke survived has fascinated people around the world , include authors and filmmaker . In 1998 , she accompanied the German movie maker Werner Herzog to the clank site .
Herzog was concerned in enjoin Koepcke ’s tarradiddle via adocumentary(“Wings of Hope " ) not only because it was inspiring but also because he had narrowly missed a potentially like fate .
While scout locations for his 1972 film " Aguirre , the Wrath of God , " Herzog had primitively been schedule to be aboard the doomed LANSA flight until a last - minute change in plan .
Many other books and movies have focalize on Koepcke ’s survival floor , paint it as a picture of human resiliency in the face of adversity and thewill to surviveagainst all odds .
We created this article in co-occurrence with AI technology , then made sure it was fact - contain and blue-pencil by a HowStuffWorks editor in chief .
