Incredible story of the teenager who fell 3km from a crashing plane, but lived

Juliane Koepcke saw her mum sucked out of a plane as it fell apart mid-flight. Moments later, she got sucked out too — but somehow, she lived. 

At first, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke wasn’t really bothered by the thunderstorm she could see out the plane window. 

But her mother Maria, who was sitting next to her on the flight from Peru’s capital Lima to the city of Pucallpa in the Amazonian rainforest, grew a little nervous.

I don’t like this, her mum said as they were rocked around in bad turbulence.

The pair were on their way to Pucallpa to be reunited with Juliane’s father Hans-Wilhelm on Christmas Eve, 1971. The German family lived in Peru, where Hans-Wilhelm and Maria, both zoologists, worked at a research outpost in the rainforest. Hours before the flight, Juliane had been at her high school graduation.

She had no idea the storm would cause the plane to nosedive towards a fiery crash. That she would be its only miracle survivor and that survival would come after a gruelling battle.

‘THIS IS THE END, IT’S ALL OVER’
As LANSA flight 508 flew through the thunderstorm, the plane with 91 people on board was battered with severe turbulence. Luggage, including Christmas presents, bounced around the cabin.

Within moments, lightening struck the Lockheed L-188A Electra and caused a fire. That’s when Juliane became scared.

My mother and I held hands but we were unable to speak. Other passengers began to cry and weep and scream, Juliane told the BBC in 2012.

After about 10 minutes, I saw a very bright light on the outer engine on the left.

My mother said very calmly: ‘That is the end, it’s all over’. Those were the last words I ever heard from her.

Later, Juliane would learn the American-built turboprop plane, with its small, rigid wings, wasn’t designed to withstand extreme turbulence.

As the fire took hold, a wing broke off and the plane began to disintegrate, plunging into a nose-first free fall towards the jungle below.

All 86 passengers and six crew were likely doomed. Some people got sucked out of the plane as it broke apart mid-air.

I heard the incredibly loud motor and people screaming and then the plane fell extremely steeply, Juliane told VICE in 2010.

And then it was calm — incredibly calm compared with the noise before that. I could only hear the wind in my ears. I was still attached to my seat.

My mother and the man sitting by the aisle had both been propelled out of their seats. I was freefalling, that’s what I registered for sure. I was in a tailspin.

I saw the forest beneath me — like ‘green cauliflower, like broccoli’, is how I described it later on.

After a terrifying free fall of about 2987 metres, the teenager landed on the floor of the Amazon jungle.

Flight 509, operated by Peruvian airline LANSA, was flying from Lima to Iquitos, with a stop in Pucallpa, where Juliane and her mother were heading. The X marks the approximate location of the crash. Picture: Wikimedia CommonsSource:Supplied

It has been suggested the row of seats Juliane was strapped to, which were empty on either side of her, slowed her fall enough for her to survive it. It also likely broke her fall when she hit the ground.

When she landed she blacked out and woke up the next morning, on Christmas Day.