” Juliane Koepcke : Amazon Plane Crash Survivor ” I Bizarre Buffet Podcast
An incredible take of survival, the story of Juliane Koepcke.
This episode goes into the story of Juliane Koepcke, a German Peruvian woman who was the sole survivor of Peruvian flight LANSA Flight 508 following its mid-air disintegration after a lightning strike in 1971.
Referenced in this episode is Wings of Hope (German: Julianes Sturz in den Dschungel, literally “Juliane’s Freefall into the Jungle”) is a 1998[1] made-for-TV documentary directed by Werner Herzog.
Find the fascinating documentary with the link below!
Wings of Hope by Werner Herzog on YouTube
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” Juliane Koepcke : Amazon Plane Crash Survivor ” I Episode Credits
Hosted By Mark Tauriello , Jen Wilson , & Marc Bluestein .
Original Episode Art & Story Concept By Mark Tauriello
Episode Production By Marc Bluestein
” Juliane Koepcke : Amazon Plane Crash Survivor ” I Show Notes
Juliane Koepcke Survived A Plane Crash, Spent 11 Days Navigating The Rainforest
-In 1971 a plane with 92 passengers aboard disappeared into the Peruvian jungle without a trace. After 10 days the entire search was completely abandoned. On the 12th day, Juliane Koepcke who was 17 years old was the sole survivor of LANSA flight 508.
About Juliane Koepcke
-Born Oct 10 1954 in Lima Peru. Her parents were originally from Germany but moved to South America. They originally worked at the Museum of Natural History in Peru but eventually established a research center in the Amazon when she was about 14 years old. From this, she had a very eclectic childhood with an emphasis on jungle survival and strong appreciation to nature which fueled her passion.
-Her father Hans Wilhelm Koepck studied fauna and her Mother, Maria Koepcke studied birds.
-She attended high school far from home and graduated on December 23 1971.
-24 Hours before the day of the crash, Juliane attended her high school prom (Guess they measure a school year differently than we do ).
-Since she had completed high school and it was now Christmas Eve, her Mother and Juliane were ready too fly back home for Christmas to the research center in the Amazon.
-Due to the high volume of flights since it was Christmas Eve, it was almost impossible to find one that would get them home time for the holiday. The last option available was the doomed flight 508 with LANSA, an airline that was notorious for their horrid reputation.
About LANSA
-LANSA was a commercial airline based in Peru which was established in 1963 and lasted until January of 1972 when they has lost their operating authority.
- April 27 1966 (49 Dead) Crashed 10 minutes after take off into a Mountain Side
- August 9 1970 (101 Dead) Crashed from losing complete power in one of the engines, shortly after taking off. According to the Peruvian Government the accident was caused by improper execution of engine-out procedures by the flight crew on top of overcrowding on the airplane. The airline was fined and had a 90 day suspension.
- December 24 1971 (91 Dead)
Aside from that, it should be noted that some of the people who had worked on buidling/ servicing the airplanes had never worked with airplanes before, but had only worked on motorcycles.
-Passengers often would complain about rides being very bumpy, loud, and terrible service.
LANSA Flight 508
-On December 24, 1972, flight 508 was a domestic passenger flight leaving from Lima to Pucallpa Peru.
-Juliane and her mother took this flight as a last resort because they were desperate to be home in time for the Holiday. Maria however was very skeptical about using this airline because of its reputation, and Juliane mentions her Mothers trepidation in the 1998 documentary WINGS OF HOPE which I will be referencing in this episode.
-As they were flying over the rainforest, they encountered a big storm to which the airplane would be flying through. The crew decided to continue on despite these incredibly hazardous conditions and extremely rough turbulence. This poor choice was most likely influenced by the pressure to meet the holiday schedule ( fuck christmas, people get way wrapped into it)
-It should be noted that this specific airplane that Juliane and her Mother were riding was entirely assembled by…SPARE PARTS OF OTHER PLANES. Literally, a janky FRANKENPLANE. Flying through a storm..
-Upon doing so, the plane was struck by a bolt of lightning causing the plane to crash. On this specific flight there were 86 passengers and 6 crew members. From this, 91 people died out of the 92. The plane was only fit for 82 passengers, meaning, they crammed 10 more additional people on board. The sole survivor was Juliane Koepck, a 17 year old who literally had her prom and high school graduation 24 hours before this catastrope.
Wings Of Hope
-In the Documentary about her experience, WINGS OF HOPE, Juliane describes the crash. She mentioned that it was incredibly stormy and a very bumpy ride. As the plane flew into the clouds, it became darker and darker. A huge blinding flash occurred when the plane was hit, and her mother yelled “ This is the end” . She describes the havoc inside of luggage, machinery, and christmas presents being thrown all over the place. She then continues to say she started to black out as the plane did a nose dive plummet while passengers screamed in horror. Most off putting though is when she mentions no longer being in the plane and simply falling in the sky as “It wasn’t as if I left the plane, it felt more like the plane left me. It simply wasn’t there anymore.” and the next thing she knows she is literally strapped in her seat free falling from the sky through storm clouds. During her fall she began to spiral downward towards the earth (from 2 miles above). As she grew closer she could see the tree tops of the rainforest which she describes as looking like broccoli from far up.
-She eventually hit the ground and was knocked out unconscious and doesn’t wake up for a day and 1/2 . During this time she states that she could remember dreaming of being dirty and covered in mud, trying to find a place to take a bath. She also was dreaming that her body was floating in a room and her body was semi mechanic and equipped with a plane engine.
Three Explanations
- Thunder clouds create updrafts which drive everything upwards which could have slowed down her fall.
- The spiral fall was likely due to the fact that she was sitting in a row consisting of 3 seats. Her seat was at the end of the row, the other 2 passengers in her row ( her Mother, and random passenger) flew out of their seats during the crash, Her being at the end of the row shifted the weight unevenly, causing the spiral.
- Where the seat was found, the trees were densely intertwined with vines, creating a safety net like effect which broke her fall as she hit the ground.
Injuries Upon Waking Up
- Concussion
- Broken Clavicle
- A gash in her shin (not bleeding due to the bodies reaction to shock)
- A gash in her arm which was already infected with maggots
It should also be noted that she was wearing a mini skirt for that was the fashion of the time, and had lost one of her shoes during the fall.
Surviving the fall was a 1 in a million chance of surviving… but thats only the first part of her story.
The Jungle
-In the Doc. Wings of Hope, they fly her out to the crash site to help her retrace her steps and share her story. She it very matter of fact the whole time and seems emotionally unphased during. Juliane does say that it’s her coping mechanism and how she is able to manage through the trauma. Before flying her to the site, it took the documentary crew days to find the area due to the high amount of vegetation and how deep in the rainforest this was.
-The crew makes a small camp among the wreckage which is completely covered in vegetation. You would never know..
-In some scenes you can see her coming face to face with pieces of the plane where she encounters the fuselage parts, luggage, seats, machinery, a woman’s coin purse, and other remnants that have been sitting in the jungle since 1972.
-You can barely walk in this due to the density of the plant life. It took the crew over an entire day to get through 300 feet.
Wound’s & Injuries
-So after she wakes up and realizes what happened and that she was completely alone. Her eyes were swollen and she could barely see, she had also lost her glasses. Crawling on all 4’s her main concern was finding her mother with whom she was very close with. In navigating through the wreckage and looking for her mother she encountered a very ghastly sight of dead bodies. One sight in particular was a row of 3 passengers still ion their seats, only, they were planet upside down 3 feet into the ground (a result from impact) where only their feet were sticking out of the ground. Not sure if one of them was her mother, she checked by looking at their feet too which she determined none of them was her mother because they were all wearing toe nail polish (her Mom did not paint her toe nails).
-Armed with one shoe, a torn mini skirt, and a bag of candy…she knew she needed to find a way out. Search planes did fly over head, but did not spot the wreckage at all due to the density of the rainforest. She was smart enough to realize they would never find her (she was right. In a matter of days the search/ rescue team had given up) . At this point she needs to determine her own fate and tap into everything she learned growing up ion the jungle.
-She navigated her way with a stick, fighting mosquitos, cold rain, snakes, poison plants, venomous spiders, crocodiles, string rays, and every kind of danger you will find in the rainforest. Eventually she finds a stream and follows it for days on end (surviving on a bag of rationed candy, and licking leaves for their water droplets). She mentions several times that while walking through the river, she would encounter crocodiles, but knew if she held her ground the crocodiles would splash around in fear and scamper. Following the water in theory will get you to a larger body of water where there could be civilization/ help.
-After 11 days of trekking through the rainforest WITH ONE SHOE and injuries… she eventually finds help… but even that was a horror show. She encounters a small paddle boat, but barely realizes bc she is delirious. By day 10 she was starving, and succumbing to her injuries, allowing her body simply to just drift through the water (Ophelia Realness). She crawls out of the river up a 5 foot ditch leading to a path which took her hours to climb up. After finding a small hut, she takes gasoline which she sucked out of a container, and poured it into the maggot infested cut in her arm to pry the maggots out. She was afraid she was going to lose her arm due to the maggots, but due to her smart decision to use the gasoline she saved her arm.
-The people of the village were hesitant to help her because they literally THOUGHT SHE WAS A DEMON FROM THE WATER!!! Literally. A demon. Called YEMANJA They thought she was a demon because she had red eyes from being blood shot, and, blonde hair. Local legend claims there is a demon that lives in thew water (sort of like a Sirens) and she has blonde hair. Luckily…she could speak Spanish, and was able to explain to them what had happened. She was rescued.
Aftermath
-She was able to give accurate directions for the search team to recover bodies from the wreckage to which they also found her Mother. Allegedly she had found out that her mother too survived the plane crash but died days later due to injuries.
-She went on to study butterflies and bats in the jungle, following the scientific footsteps of her parents. She had received her doctorate in mammalogy. Eventually she moved to Munich and works as a librarian.
- A highly fictionalized film was created in 1974 called “MIRACLES STILL HAPPEN” which was released in Italy and the United States. It’s over the top and over dramatizes her interactions with the animals of the rainforest. They depict her as this scantily dressed Barbi doll afraid of all the animals, where in fact, she was a well educated smart/ powerful woman who knew what she was doing and not afraid of the rainforest it self.
-Julianne is still alive today and occasionally will do interviews and talks about her experience. She is a great depiction of a strong woman, and someone who had to overcome so much in harsh circumstances. It was luck that was in her favor in regards to surviving the actual plane crash, but it was her own determination, rigor, and knowledge that took her through the second half of this story. Though she has much trauma from this incident, she hasn’t allowed it to stop her from living a fulfilling life.
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