Listen to “Juliane Koepcke Fell from the Sky” on Spreaker.
It’s Christmas Eve, 1971.
You’re on an airplane, 10,000 feet in the air, flying over the Amazon rainforest.
It’s supposed to be a short, peaceful trip.
But in less than an hour…
you’re going to be alone.
In the jungle.
With no food.
No gear.
And no one coming to help you.
And the way you get there…
is something straight out of a nightmare.
The Flight
Juliane Koepcke is 17 years old. She’s half German, half Peruvian, and she’s grown up in the rainforest with her parents, who are both scientists. She knows more about jungle plants than most people know about their own backyards.
That day, she and her mom, Maria, are boarding LANSA Flight 508 from Lima to Pucallpa. It’s a one-hour flight. They’re going home for Christmas.
Juliane’s dad didn’t join them — he said the airline had a bad safety record.
He was right.
The plane takes off. It’s a normal flight at first. Juliane’s in seat 19F, right by the window. She can see endless clouds below and the thick green of the rainforest peeking through gaps.
About 30 minutes in…
they hit turbulence.
Not the kind that makes your drink ripple.
The kind that feels like the whole plane just dropped out of the sky.
People scream.
Luggage crashes out of overhead bins.
The cabin lights flicker.
And then — Juliane sees something terrifying out the window.
A massive, black storm cloud swallowing them whole.
The Storm
The plane plunges into the storm.
Lightning is flashing everywhere.
It’s so loud she can barely hear herself think.
Juliane looks down the aisle — people are clutching each other, praying, crying.
And then —
BOOM.
A blinding flash of white light explodes right next to the plane.
The engines…
stop.
The sound of the wind rushing past the cabin is all that’s left.
And before she can even process what’s happening —
The plane…
breaks apart.
The Fall
Juliane feels her seat rip free from the cabin.
She’s suddenly in open air, still strapped in, spinning violently.
She’s falling…
10,000 feet.
The air is freezing.
The pressure is crushing her chest.
She can’t scream — the wind steals her voice.
Below her is an endless green canopy.
It looks soft, almost inviting.
It isn’t.
That canopy is made of trees 100 feet tall, with branches like spears.
Juliane hits them at over 100 miles an hour.
Branches tear at her arms and legs.
Then… everything goes black.
Waking Up
When she opens her eyes…
it’s silent.
Just the distant sound of insects and birds.
She’s on the jungle floor.
She has no idea how long she’s been there.
Her right collarbone is broken.
Her right eye is swollen shut.
She has deep cuts on her arms and legs.
And… she’s alone.
No wreckage.
No voices.
No sign of her mother.
All she has is the mini-dress she was wearing on the flight…
and one sandal.
Surviving the First Night
The Amazon jungle is one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
There are jaguars, venomous snakes, swarms of biting insects.
And Juliane… is 17, injured, and has no survival gear.
But she remembers something her father taught her:
If you find water, follow it downstream.
It will eventually lead to people.
That night, she curls up under some leaves.
It rains.
The cold soaks through her dress.
She can’t sleep.
She keeps thinking about her mom.
Wondering if she’s out there somewhere… alive.
The Jungle Walk
The next morning, Juliane finds a small creek.
She starts following it.
Sometimes she has to wade through waist-deep water.
Sometimes she crawls on the bank to avoid thorns.
The insects are relentless.
Mosquitoes cover her skin.
She can feel them biting but she doesn’t have the strength to swat them away.
Her wounds start to rot in the heat.
Flies lay eggs in one cut on her arm.
She can feel them wriggling under her skin.
And she’s hungry.
The only thing she eats… is candy.
Not even hers — candy she found floating in the water from the wreckage.
She walks… for days.
The Bodies
On the fourth day… she sees something ahead.
It’s the back of three seats from the plane.
Still strapped in… are three bodies.
They’re headfirst in the dirt, so mangled she can’t even tell if one is her mother.
She can’t look for long.
She just keeps walking.
The Hallucinations
By day seven… Juliane is weak.
She’s drinking river water just to stay alive.
She starts hearing voices in the trees.
Her vision blurs.
At one point, she swears she sees a roof in the distance.
When she blinks… it’s gone.
She keeps following the river.
It’s the only thing keeping her moving.
The Boat
On the tenth day…
she sees something impossible.
A small hut.
A boat tied to the bank.
For the first time in days, she feels hope.
She collapses beside the boat.
If she can just wait here… someone will come back.
Rescue
The next day, three Peruvian lumber workers find her.
At first, they think she might be a forest spirit — she’s so thin, pale, and covered in dirt and insect bites.
But when she speaks Spanish, they realize she’s real.
They give her food, clean her wounds, and take her to the nearest village.
From there, she’s flown to a hospital.
She’s the only survivor of LANSA Flight 508.
Out of 92 people… only Juliane Koepcke lived.
Aftermath
Later, investigators think the reason she survived the fall was a combination of her seat spinning like a maple seed, slowing her descent…
and the thick tree canopy breaking her fall.
But Juliane doesn’t see it as luck.
She says it was knowing the jungle…
and listening to what her father taught her…
that kept her alive.
Even today, she can still hear the sound of that storm…
and the silence that came after.
