LANSA Flight 508 was a Lockheed L-188A Electra

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

, registered OB-R-941, operated as a scheduled domestic passenger flight by Lineas Aéreas Nacionales Sociedad Anonima (LANSA), which crashed in a

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

en route from

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 ...

Pucallpa Pucallpa (, qu, puka allpa, lit=red dirt; Shipibo language, Shipibo: ''May Ushin'') is a city in eastern Peru located on the banks of the Ucayali River, a major tributary of the Amazon River. It is the capital of the Ucayali region, the Corone ...

in Peru on 24 December 1971, killing 91 people — all six of its crew and 85 of its 86 passengers. It is the deadliest

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

strike disaster in history. The sole survivor was 17-year-old

Juliane Koepcke Juliane Koepcke (born 10 October 1954), also known by her married name Juliane Diller, is a German-Peruvian mammalogist and biologist. In 1971, when she was 17 years old, Koepcke survived the LANSA Flight 508 plane crash. After falling while ...

, who while strapped to her seat fell into 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. ...

. She survived the fall and was then able to walk through the

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

for eleven days until being rescued by local fishermen. The Electra was LANSA's last aircraft; the company lost its operating permit eleven days later. LANSA-Flug 508

Crash

LANSA Flight 508 departed

Jorge Chávez International Airport Jorge Chávez International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez) is Peru's main international and domestic airport. It is located in Callao, northwest from Lima Center, the nation's capital city and from the district of Miraflo ...

just before noon 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 ...

on its way to

Iquitos Iquitos (; ) is the capital city of Peru's Maynas Province and Loreto Region. It is the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon, east of the Andes, as well as the ninth-most populous city of Peru. Iquitos is the largest city in the world th ...

, Peru, with a scheduled stop at

. The aircraft was flying at about above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

when it encountered an area of

s and severe

turbulence In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to a laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between ...

. Some evidence showed the crew decided to continue the flight despite the hazardous weather ahead, apparently because of pressure to meet the holiday schedule. Peruvian investigators cited "intentional flight into hazardous weather conditions" as a cause of the crash. Sole survivor Juliane Koepcke later discovered that OB-R-941 was "assembled entirely from spare parts of other planes".

Death toll and sole survivor

The sole survivor was 17-year-old

. Despite a broken

collarbone The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the right ...

, a deep gash to her right arm, an eye injury, and

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

, she was able to trek through the dense Amazon jungle for 10 days and found shelter in a hut. Local fishermen found her and took her by canoe back to civilization. As many as 14 other passengers were also later found to have survived the initial crash, but died awaiting rescue.

In popular culture

The movie ''

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) is based on the story. Koepcke's story was also told in the

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

'' Wings of Hope'' (1998) 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 ...

. Koepcke's memoir ''Als ich vom Himmel fiel'' was published by the German publisher Piper Malik on March 10, 2011.(The English edition ''When I Fell From the Sky'', was published by Titletown Publishing in November 2011.) The crash also features in the final season-one episode of the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

documentary ''Aircrash Confidential''. The episode was first aired in 2011, and features an interview with Koepcke.

References

External links

Photo of Accident Aircraft on Aviation Safety Site

o
Falling Rain

BBC News - Juliane Koepcke: How I survived a plane crash
{{Portal bar, Peru, Aviation Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Airliner accidents and incidents caused by lightning strikes Aviation accidents and incidents in Peru Aviation accidents and incidents in 1971 Accidents and incidents involving the Lockheed L-188 Electra 508 1971 in Peru 1971 meteorology December 1971 events in South America

Crash

Death toll and sole survivor

In popular culture

See also

References

External links