This is a great story of survival and one I have followed through the years

and used her ring to dig out bot fly larvae from under her skin.
 
If I'm not mistaken there were some others that actually survived also but refused to leave the crash site. They died. Most folks don't understand that it is nearly impossible to find a crash site under jungle canopy from the air.
 
Tough ol' broad. . . too bad most people nowadays wouldn't know what to do. Kills me every time I see peoples kids doin nothing but hangin out at the mall and playing video games. I wish you could just slap people.
 
That is an amazing story. Not only does it prove that she is a strong lady, both mentally and physically, but it also shows that her parents understood the value in being able to survive in horrible conditions.
 
Thanks for posting this Jeff.


This is one of the most amazing passages I have ever read in my life. I remember my Dad telling me about a WW2 Paratrooper who had a chute malfunction and fell quite some distance into a snowbank and survived - that's pretty amazing. This story you have posted is just on a level far above that.

"As the plane broke into pieces in midair, Koepcke was thrust out into the open air:

'Suddenly there was this amazing silence. The plane was gone. I must have been unconscious and then came to in midair. I was flying, spinning through the air and I could see the forest spinning beneath me.'

Then Koepcke lost consciousness again. She fell more than three kilometers (two miles) into the jungle canopy but miraculously survived with only minor injuries."
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All joking aside...someone not 17 years old or otherwise very young...might not have had the healthy heart to have survived that. I mean, that's a heart attack on a plate for most of us, to go through that.
 
And the amazing thing, Don, if I recall correctly is there were others that survived that fall also but didn't try to get out. May have been because they were too injured. Maybe I'm wrong on that because it has been years since I read the whole story on this. Hell, maybe I dreamed it! :D
 
Not too many people survive that type of aircrash, that's amazing all by itself really...but twirling through the air for two miles downward and not cashing in is really something else.
 
Don Rearic said:
Thanks for posting this Jeff.


This is one of the most amazing passages I have ever read in my life. I remember my Dad telling me about a WW2 Paratrooper who had a chute malfunction and fell quite some distance into a snowbank and survived - that's pretty amazing. This story you have posted is just on a level far above that.



All joking aside...someone not 17 years old or otherwise very young...might not have had the healthy heart to have survived that. I mean, that's a heart attack on a plate for most of us, to go through that.
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This is the part that I couldn't believe! amazing.
 
That would've been instacroak for poor little River Rat. Soon as that row of seats hit open air, I would've been a goner.
 
Amazing story. The lessons her father taught her about survival is what saved her life.
 
I think she still does some work in Peru. Some of our SF instructors down there know her pretty well but I've never have the chance to meet her.
 
jeff, you have any resources for a more comprehensive version of her story? I'd love to read something more detailed.
 
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