LANSA Flight 508

Accident

LANSA Flight 508 departed Lima's Jorge Chávez International Airport just before noon on Christmas Eve on its way to Iquitos, Peru, with a scheduled stop at Pucallpa. The aircraft was flying at about 21000 ft above mean sea level when it encountered an area of thunderstorms and severe turbulence. 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.

After flying for twenty minutes in this weather at FL210 lightning struck the aircraft, causing fire on the right wing which separated, along with part of the left wing. The aircraft crashed in flames into mountainous terrain. Structural failure occurred because of the loads imposed on the aircraft flying through a severe thunderstorm, but also because of stresses resulting from the maneuver to level out the aircraft.

Victims and sole survivor

The sole survivor was 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke, who while strapped to her seat fell 3,000 m into the Amazon rainforest. She survived the fall with a broken collarbone, a deep laceration to her right arm, an eye injury, and concussion. She was able to trek through the dense Amazon jungle for 11 days and found shelter in a hut. Local lumberjacks found her and took her by canoe back to civilization. The Electra was LANSA's last aircraft; the company lost its operating permit eleven days later.

As many as 14 other passengers were also later found to have survived the crash, but died awaiting rescue, including Koepcke's mother.

In popular culture

The movie Miracles Still Happen (1974) is based on the story. Koepcke's story was also told in the documentary film Wings of Hope (1998) by director Werner Herzog, who had narrowly avoided taking the same flight, when his reservation had been canceled due to a last minute change in itinerary. Koepcke's memoir Als ich vom Himmel fiel was published by the German publisher Piper Malik on March 10, 2011. (The English edition, titled 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 documentary Aircrash Confidential. The episode was first aired in 2011, and features an interview with Koepcke.

References

References

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6. Franz Lidz. (June 22, 2021). "Life After the Fall". [[The New York Times]].
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10. [http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1972/1972%20-%201291.html World Airlines] ''Flight International'', p. S31, 18 May 1972
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13. "Wings of Hope (IMDb Record)".
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15. (2011). "Aircrash Confidential". MMXI World Media Rights Limited; WMR Productions; IMG Entertainment.