Juliane Koepcke (born 10 October 1954), also known by her married name Juliane Diller, is a
German-Peruvian mammalogist In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous system
In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part ...
and biologist.
In 1971, when she was 17 years old, Koepcke survived the
LANSA Flight 508
LANSA Flight 508 was a Lockheed L-188A Electra turboprop, registered OB-R-941, operated as a scheduled domestic passenger flight by Lineas Aéreas Nacionales Sociedad Anonima (LANSA), which crashed in a thunderstorm en route from Lima to Pucall ...
plane crash. After falling while strapped to her seat, the teen survived 11 days alone in the
Amazon rainforest
The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...
.
Early life
Koepcke was born in
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...
,
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
, in 1954 to German parents who worked at the
Museum of Natural History, Lima
The Natural History Museum (Museo de Historia Natural) in Lima, is Peru's most important museum of natural history. It was established in 1918 and belongs to the National University of San Marcos.
History
The museum was founded in 1918 by the Fa ...
. She was the only child of biologist
Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke
Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke (13 June 1914 – 21 November 2000) was a German zoologist, ornithologist, and herpetologist. He was married to ornithologist Maria Koepcke, and was the father of mammalogist Juliane Koepcke.
Scientific work in Peru
Koepcke ...
and
ornithologist
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
Maria Koepcke
Maria Koepcke (born Maria Emilie Anna von Mikulicz-Radecki, 15 May 1924 – 24 December 1971) was a German ornithologist known for her work with Neotropical bird species. Koepcke was a well-respected authority in South American ornithology and ...
. When Koepcke was 14, her parents left Lima to establish
Panguana
The kapok tree ('' Ceiba pentandra'') just behind the station - Panguana's landmark
Panguana is a biological research station, founded in 1968 and since 2011 it is also a private conservation area extending over almost 10 km2 of tropical ...
, a research station in the Amazon rainforest. She became a "jungle child" and learned
survival techniques. Educational authorities disapproved and Koepcke was required to return to the
Deutsche Schule Lima Alexander von Humboldt
''Deutsche Schule Alexander von Humboldt Lima'' ( es, Colegio Peruano Alemán Alexander von Humboldt) is a German international school with two campuses in Lima, Peru: one in Miraflores and one in Surco, with a recreational centre in Huampaní. ...
to take her examinations. She graduated on 23 December 1971.
Crash
On Christmas Eve 1971, Koepcke flew on LANSA Flight 508. Koepcke had just graduated from high school. Her mother Maria had wanted to return to Panguana with her daughter on 19 or 20 December 1971, but Koepcke wished to attend her graduation ceremony in Lima on 23 December. Maria agreed for Koepcke to stay longer and instead they scheduled a flight on
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...
. All flights were booked, aside from one with
Líneas Aéreas Nacionales S.A. (LANSA). Her father, Hans-Wilhelm, urged his wife to avoid journeying with the airline, which had a poor reputation.
Nonetheless, they booked the flight. The plane was struck by lightning. The structure began to disintegrate in midair, and plummeted to the ground. Koepcke found herself still strapped to her seat—falling three kilometres into the Peruvian rainforest.
In Koepcke’s case, experts credit the fact that she was harnessed into her plane seat during her descent for her survival. However, she did
break her collarbone. She spent most of her 11 days in the rainforest making her way through the water. Koepcke's unlikely survival has been the subject of much speculation. She is known to have been belted into her seat, thus somewhat shielded and cushioned, but the outer seats of the row — those on each side of Koepcke, which remained attached to hers as part of a row of three — are thought to have functioned as a
parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...
and slowed her fall.
The impact may have been lessened further by a thunderstorm
updraft
In meteorology, an updraft is a small-scale current of rising air, often within a cloud.
Overview
Localized regions of warm or cool air will exhibit vertical movement. A mass of warm air will typically be less dense than the surrounding region, ...
and the thick foliage at her landing site.
[ As many as 14 other passengers were also later found to have survived the initial crash, but died awaiting rescue.
While in the jungle, Koepcke dealt with severe insect bites and a maggot infestation in her wounded arm, but after 9 days, she was able to find an encampment. She gave herself rudimentary first aid, including pouring gasoline on the maggot infestation, causing the maggots to vacate the wound to escape the gasoline. A few hours later, the returning loggers found her, gave her first aid, and took her to a more inhabited area, where she was airlifted to a hospital.
]
Aftermath
After recovering from her injuries, Koepcke assisted search parties in locating the crash site and recovering the bodies of victims. Her mother's body was discovered on 12 January 1972.
Koepcke's double survival story has been the subject of books and films, including her own autobiography, ''When I Fell from the Sky'', and a documentary film, ''Wings of Hope'', by director Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with un ...
. Herzog was interested in telling Koepcke's story because of a personal connection. He was slated to be on her flight in 1971, but a last-minute change of plans spared him from the accident.
Koepcke moved to Germany, where she fully recovered from her injuries. Like her parents, she studied biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
at the University of Kiel
Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...
and graduated in 1980. She received a doctorate from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
and returned to Peru to conduct research in mammalogy In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous system
In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part o ...
, specializing in bats.[ Koepcke published her thesis, ''Ecological study of a bat colony in the tropical rain forest of Peru'', in 1987. In 1989, Koepcke married Erich Diller, an entomologist who specializes in parasitic wasps.] In 2000, Koepcke took over as the director of Panguana, following the death of her father.
Now known as Juliane Diller, she serves as librarian
A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users.
The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...
at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology
The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology (german: Zoologische Staatssammlung München) or ZSM is a major German research institution for zoological systematics in Munich. It has over 20 million zoological specimens. It is one of the largest natu ...
in Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. Her autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
, ''When I Fell from the Sky'' (german: text=Als ich vom Himmel fiel), was released on 10 March 2011 by Piper Verlag
Piper Verlag is a German publisher based in Munich, printing both fiction and non-fiction works. It currently prints over 200 new paperback titles per year. Authors published by the company include Andreas von Bülow and Sara Paretsky. It is owne ...
, for which she received the Corine Literature Prize
The Corine – International Book Prize, as it is officially called, is a German literature prize created by the
Bavarian chapter of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, first awarded in 2001. It is awarded to German and international "aut ...
in 2011. In 2019, the government of Peru awarded her the Order of Merit for Distinguished Services, in the degree of Grand Officer.
Portrayal in films
Having been widely reported, Koepcke's experience is the subject of a feature-length fictional film and a documentary. The first was the low-budget, heavily fictionalized, ''I miracoli accadono ancora'' (1974) by Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Maria Scotese
Giuseppe Maria Scotese (1916–2002) was an Italian screenwriter and film director.Goble p.705
Selected filmography
* ''Fear No Evil (1945 film), Fear No Evil'' (1945)
* ''The Models of Margutta'' (1946)
* ''The Great Dawn (1947 film), The Great ...
; it was released in English as ''Miracles Still Happen
''Miracles Still Happen'' ( it, I miracoli accadono ancora) is a 1974 Italian film directed by Giuseppe Maria Scotese. It features the story of Juliane Diller, the sole survivor of 92 passengers and crew, in the 24 December 1971 crash of LANSA ...
'' (1974) and sometimes is called ''The Story of Juliane Koepcke''. In that film, she was portrayed by British actress Susan Penhaligon
Susan Penhaligon (born 3 July 1949) is a British actress and writer known for her role in the drama series ''Bouquet of Barbed Wire'' (1976), and for playing Helen Barker in the sitcom '' A Fine Romance'' (1981–1984).
She appeared in the so ...
.
Twenty-five years later, director Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with un ...
revisited the story in his film '' Wings of Hope'' (1998). While location scouting for ''Aguirre, the Wrath of God
''Aguirre, the Wrath of God'' (; german: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes; ) is a 1972 West German epic historical drama film produced, written and directed by Werner Herzog. Klaus Kinski stars in the title role of Spanish soldier Lope de Aguirre, w ...
'' in 1971, Herzog would have been on the same flight as Koepcke, had it not been for a last-minute change of his itinerary. Koepcke accompanied him on a visit to the crash site, a journey she described as "a kind of therapy" for her.[Banister interview, 24:20.]
Works
*
*
*
See also
; Fall survivors
* Nicholas Alkemade
Nicholas Stephen Alkemade (10 December 1922 – 22 June 1987) was a British tail gunner in the Royal Air Force during World War II who survived a freefall of without a parachute after abandoning his out-of-control, burning Avro Lancaster ...
, British bomber tailgunner who survived falling from his burning Avro Lancaster B Mk. II in 1944
* Ivan Chisov
Ivan Mikhailovich Chisov (russian: Иван Михайлович Чисов, uk, Іван Михайлович Чиссов; 1916–1986) was a Soviet Air Force lieutenant who survived a fall of approximately 7,000 meters (23,000 feet).
Biograph ...
, Soviet airforce lieutenant who survived falling from his aircraft in 1942
* Alan Magee, American airman who survived a fall from his damaged B-17 in 1943
* Vesna Vulović
Vesna Vulović ( sr-Cyrl, Весна Вуловић, ; 3 January 1950 23 December 2016) was a Serbian flight attendant who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: . She was the sole survivor after ...
, Serbian flight attendant who survived the mid-air breakup of her McDonnell Douglas DC-9
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas.
After ...
in 1972
* Larisa Savitskaya, Soviet woman who survived a fall from a collision
In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great fo ...
in 1981 between an Aeroflot Antonov An-24RV
The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) ( NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Irk ...
and a Tupolev Tu-16K strategic bomber. During the fall, Savitskaya remembered the movie about Juliane Koepcke that she had seen a year before.
; Other
* Freefall
In Newtonian physics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. In the context of general relativity, where gravitation is reduced to a space-time curvature, a body in free fall has no force acting on i ...
* List of sole survivors of aviation accidents or incidents
This list includes sole survivors of aviation accidents and incidents that involved 10 or more onboard. Within this list, "sole survivor" refers to a person who survived an air accident in which all other aircraft occupants died as a direct conseq ...
References
External links
Plane Crashes Since 1970 with a Sole Survivor
airsafe.com
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koepcke, Juliane
1954 births
Living people
People from Lima
Peruvian people of German descent
German mammalogists
German librarians
German women librarians
Fall survivors
Sole survivors
Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents
Peruvian librarians
Peruvian biologists
Women mammalogists