She Fell Two Miles and Lived... But The Danger Wasn't Over: Juliane Koepcke | Fascinating Horror — Transcript

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1. 0:00foreign
2. 0:07[Music]
3. 0:11on the 24th of December 1971 Lanza
4. 0:14Flight 508 was flying from Lima to
5. 0:17pacappe Peru when it encountered a storm
6. 0:19and was struck by lightning the plane
7. 0:22broke up and crashed down into the
8. 0:24Amazon rainforest in what would turn out
9. 0:26to be the deadliest lightning strike in
10. 0:28aviation history of the 92 people on
11. 0:31board only one would survive
12. 0:36Julianne kopka was born on the 10th of
13. 0:38October 1954 in Lima Peru she was the
14. 0:43daughter of two German natural
15. 0:44scientists Hans Wilhelm kopka a
16. 0:47biologist and Maria kopka an
17. 0:49ornithologist both her parents worked at
18. 0:52the Museum of Natural History in Lima
19. 0:54until 1968 when they decided to pursue
20. 0:57their interests in scientific field work
21. 0:59in the Amazon jungle taking their young
22. 1:02teenage daughter with them they
23. 1:04established the panguana Biological
24. 1:06Station a mammal insect and fish
25. 1:08Research Center located deep in the
26. 1:10Peruvian lowland rainforest
27. 1:13given the remoteness of the research
28. 1:15station Julianne was homeschooled for
29. 1:17several years until local educational
30. 1:19authorities declared that she would have
31. 1:22to return to Lima to finish her high
32. 1:24school education
33. 1:25by late December 1971 Julianne had
34. 1:28finished school
35. 1:30she and her mother were originally due
36. 1:32to return to the research station a week
37. 1:34before Christmas but decided to delay
38. 1:36Plans by a few days so that Julianne
39. 1:39could attend her high school graduation
40. 1:40ceremony by the time mother and daughter
41. 1:43were ready to fly back to panguana the
42. 1:46only tickets available were Pharrell
43. 1:47Anza flight departing at noon on the
44. 1:5024th of December Lanza or Lineas areas
45. 1:54nacionales South America was a
46. 1:56commercial Peruvian Airline originally
47. 1:58founded in 1963 which provided a
48. 2:01much-needed connection between Lima and
49. 2:03other regions within Peru over the years
50. 2:06as the company expanded International
51. 2:08destinations such as Chile Honduras and
52. 2:11Miami in the United States were added to
53. 2:13their roster the company had a
54. 2:15notoriously bad safety record in 1966
55. 2:19pilot era on flight 101 from Lima to
56. 2:22Cusco caused the plane to crash into our
57. 2:24Mountainside killing all 49 passengers
58. 2:27four years later Lanza flight 502
59. 2:30suffered an engine fire and crashed into
60. 2:33a valley killing 99 people on board and
61. 2:36two others on the ground pilot error and
62. 2:39lacks engine maintenance procedures were
63. 2:42to blame
64. 2:43the public were aware of Lanza's track
65. 2:46record and the airline was regarded by
66. 2:48many as a last resort there was in fact
67. 2:51a common saying regarding the
68. 2:53performance of the airline Lanza lands
69. 2:56on its belly
70. 2:58despite some reservations Julianne and
71. 3:01her mother booked onto Lanza Flight 508
72. 3:03from Lima to aquitos they boarded the
73. 3:06Lockheed l188 Electra turboprop at Jorge
74. 3:10Chavez International Airport and enjoyed
75. 3:12a smooth and uneventful takeoff
76. 3:15mid-flight with very little warning the
77. 3:18plane encountered a severe thunderstorm
78. 3:20and was struck by lightning Julianne
79. 3:22described her experience of what
80. 3:24happened next
81. 3:25then I suddenly see a blinding white
82. 3:28light over the right wing I don't know
83. 3:30whether it's a flash of lightning or an
84. 3:32explosion I lose all sense of time
85. 3:35I can't tell whether all this lasts
86. 3:37minutes or only a fraction of a second
87. 3:40with a jolt the tip of the airplane
88. 3:42falls steeply downward
89. 3:44I can see the whole aisle to the cockpit
90. 3:47which is below me people are screaming
91. 3:50in panic shrill cries for help the Roar
92. 3:53of the plummeting turbines which I will
93. 3:55hear again and again in my dreams
94. 3:57engulfs me and then over everything
95. 4:00clear as glass I hear my mother saying
96. 4:04quite calmly now it's all over
97. 4:07from one moment to the next people's
98. 4:09screams go silent
99. 4:10it's as if the Roar of the turbines has
100. 4:13been erased
101. 4:14my mother is no longer at my side and
102. 4:17I'm no longer in the airplane
103. 4:19I'm still strapped into my seat but I'm
104. 4:22alone and I'm falling slicing through
105. 4:25the sky
106. 4:27Julianne fell from a height of about
107. 4:29three kilometers or two miles she was
108. 4:32still strapped to her seat in a row of
109. 4:34two other seats which was spiraling
110. 4:36towards the ground she was conscious for
111. 4:38a large part of the fall but blacked out
112. 4:41before landing
113. 4:42when she came to she found herself lying
114. 4:45in the mud looking up at the jungle
115. 4:47canopy she had a broken collarbone a
116. 4:50ruptured ligament in her knee and
117. 4:51several cuts and bruises including a
118. 4:54deep wound to her upper right arm
119. 4:56despite her incredible fool these were
120. 4:59her only apparent injuries
121. 5:02though she had miraculously survived the
122. 5:04crash she was by no means safe she was
123. 5:07now lost in the jungle a significant
124. 5:10distance from civilization
125. 5:12though she could hear search planes
126. 5:14passing overhead the canopy obscured her
127. 5:17from sight she knew that she would have
128. 5:19to move if she wanted to survive
129. 5:22she located a stream and decided to
130. 5:24follow it reasoning that it would likely
131. 5:26lead to a river where people might live
132. 5:29or fish and so for 10 days Julianne did
133. 5:33just this she walked along the bank
134. 5:35constantly on guard for snakes and other
135. 5:37Wildlife later she swam in the muddy
136. 5:40water she slept on sandbanks drank river
137. 5:43water and slowly consumed a single
138. 5:46packet of Sweets she had found in the
139. 5:48wreckage where she landed
140. 5:50at this point she did not know the fate
141. 5:52of the other passengers on board the
142. 5:54flight her mother included her concern
143. 5:57for her mother was heightened when she
144. 5:58encountered three human bodies still
145. 6:00attached to their seats beside the river
146. 6:02prayed on by vultures
147. 6:05after 10 grueling days Julianne
148. 6:07discovered a boat moored on the
149. 6:09riverbank a path led to a wooden Hut
150. 6:12with a palm leaf roof
151. 6:14Julianne took refuge in the Hut hoping
152. 6:16that the owners of the boat would soon
153. 6:18visit while she waited she treated the
154. 6:20wound on her arm which was infested with
155. 6:23maggots as a child she had seen her
156. 6:26father treat a similar wound on their
157. 6:28pet dog using kerosene so she returned
158. 6:31to the boat on the river siphoned
159. 6:33gasoline from its fuel supply and
160. 6:35applied it to the wound which
161. 6:37successfully drove out many of the
162. 6:39maggots
163. 6:40the following day Julianne awoke to the
164. 6:42sound of men returning to the Hut which
165. 6:44was a base for local woodcutters the men
166. 6:47were startled by her appearance but had
167. 6:49heard news of the plane crash when
168. 6:52Julianne told them she was a survivor of
169. 6:54the lands of flight they gave her food
170. 6:56and helped patch up her wounds
171. 6:59after resting overnight Julianne was
172. 7:01taken on a seven-hour journey by canoe
173. 7:04Downstream to a place where she could be
174. 7:06airlifted to hospital and finally
175. 7:08reunited with her father
176. 7:10all six of the planes crew and 71
177. 7:13passengers died directly in the crash
178. 7:1615 people survived the disaster though
179. 7:19all but Julianne succumbed to their
180. 7:21injuries before being rescued this
181. 7:23included Julianne's mother
182. 7:26Julianne's remarkable survival was
183. 7:29thought to be the product of several
184. 7:30phenomena the section of seating to
185. 7:32which she'd been belted had spun as it
186. 7:35fell and this helicopter effect had
187. 7:37slowed her descent this combined with a
188. 7:40stormy updraft and the cushioning effect
189. 7:42of the Jungle canopy had turned a fatal
190. 7:45fool into a survivable one
191. 7:47after that Julianne's childhood in the
192. 7:49jungle had allowed her to stay calm and
193. 7:52follow a sensible course of action as
194. 7:54she hiked towards safety
195. 7:56an investigation into the crash revealed
196. 7:58that the crew had been under some
197. 8:00pressure to make up for previous delays
198. 8:02during the busy holiday season something
199. 8:04which might have contributed to their
200. 8:06decision not to deviate around the storm
201. 8:08additionally it was found that the plane
202. 8:11had been in extremely poor condition it
203. 8:14was one of Lanza's last remaining
204. 8:16aircraft and was made up of many spare
205. 8:18parts salvaged from defunct Lanza planes
206. 8:22in the wake of the disaster the
207. 8:24company's operating license was
208. 8:25suspended and Lanza shut down for good
209. 8:29Julianne recovered from her injuries her
210. 8:32Survival Story attracted a great deal of
211. 8:34media attention and many outright full
212. 8:36stories were published about her ordeal
213. 8:39including rumors that she had abandoned
214. 8:41other survivors and a fabricated story
215. 8:43that she had built a raft in order to
216. 8:46escape the jungle
217. 8:47she moved to Germany and went on to
218. 8:49study biology at the University of Keel
219. 8:52when her father passed away 13 years
220. 8:54later she took his place as the Director
221. 8:57of panguana and coordinator of its
222. 8:59research expeditions
223. 9:01many years after the disaster Julianne
224. 9:03wrote a book about her experiences and
225. 9:06also Revisited the site of the crash as
226. 9:08part of a documentary made by Verna
227. 9:10Herzog
228. 9:11Julianne is now a doctor and goes by her
229. 9:14married name Dilla Dr Dilla remains a
230. 9:18well-known figure though her miraculous
231. 9:20survival of a plane crash and a 10-day
232. 9:22hike Through the Jungle is just one part
233. 9:24of her life
234. 9:25since then she has gone on to become an
235. 9:28eminent zoologist
236. 9:29she flies often and has devoted a
237. 9:32significant part of her life to the
238. 9:33preservation of the same jungle
239. 9:35environment that almost killed her with
240. 9:38regards to this she has said
241. 9:40the jungle caught me and saved me it was
242. 9:43not its fault that I landed there