At 2:30 pm on January 26th, 1972, Flight 367 landed at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark. There, a young Servian flight attendant named Vesna Vulovic boarded the plane which would depart at 3:15 pm to Belgrade. While this flight seemed like it would be an ordinary flight, it would go down as one of the most incredible and unbelievable survival stories in history. Around 45 minutes into the Flight around 4:01pm, an explosion occurred at 33,000 feet sending the plane crashing toward the ground. Once the wreckage was found everyone had perished, everyone except one woman, Vesna Vulovic.
In this post, we will explore the amazing true story of Vesna’s survival from 33,000 feet, theories on how she survived and how some people manage to survive falls from incredible heights.
After the crash, Vesna was taken to the hospital and was put in a coma. She had a skull fracture and broke her legs. She was paralyzed from the waist down in the beginning but was able to regain the ability to walk again in time. Vesna had suffered memory loss as well and had no recollection of flight or the explosion.
Since Vesna had no memory of the event its raised questions over the years as to how she survived the fall. We do know several things though based on how she was found in the wreckage.
Piece of Plane that Broke off
Vesna would say that she was found in the middle part of the plane and pinned down by her work colleagues and the beverage cart. It’s believed that this somehow held her in place, but this raises the questions as to how she survived the impact?
We know that the fuselage of the plane broke apart from the rest during the explosion, sucking many of the other passengers out. Vesna was pinned down, so she wasn’t pulled out. The plane crashed in a heavily wooded area and also in thick snow and many speculate that the fuselage crashed at a an extremely favorable angle.
Vesna was said to have very low blood pressure. This almost stopped her from being a flight attendant. In fact, she had to drink lots of coffee before her medical tests to raise her blood pressure to pass the medical exam. It is thought this, along with the cabin depressurizing, causing her to pass out, lowered her blood pressure enough to prevent her heart from exploding.
To make matters more favorable for Vesna, once the crash occurred, she was aided by an experienced WW2 combat veteran who was able to stabilize her until she got to the hospital.
After an investigation, it was revealed that Croatian terrorists had set off the bomb mid-flight. Vesna believes she saw the man who was responsible when the plane landed in Copenhagen. She believes he put the bomb on the plane and then deboarded in Copenhagen.
Vesna would go on to achieve celebrity status with her survival for some time before falling out of the limelight.
While Vesna’s story is truly an incredible one, it’s not the only story of people surviving falls from incredible heights.
Skydiver Christine McKenzie was skydiving in 2004 when her parachute refused to open. The reserve chute failed as well, and she ended up falling into powerlines. The powerlines absorbed the majority of the shock, and she was able to survive.
Juliane Koepke, then 17 years old, is another individual who survived a plane crash above 30,000 feet. Koepke’s flight LANSA 508 was struck by lightning on December 24,1971. The plane barreled down into the Amazon Rainforest. What’s perhaps most intriguing about this story is Juliane, badly injured, had to hike for ten days until she reached some fishermen who took her out of the jungle. It’s said from this flight, 14 other people survived the initial crash but died as they were unable to trek through the jungle.
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The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is one of the most popular suicide spots in the world. Of the people who have jumped the 250 feet below into the water, it’s said around 98% percent have died. Those who survived tend to be young. One might think a higher percentage would survive since they are hitting water, but at that height hitting the water is the same as hitting concrete.
There are many theories as to how and why people can survive high falls but generally speaking it comes down to one thing: luck.
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With this, Experts say there are few things you can do to help improve your chances if falling from a high altitude. One if as you approach the ground, try and come in feet first from an angle. If coming from an extremely high altitude it’s worth starting in a flat position to slow down your speed and then switching to feet first. Of course, finding anything to help break your fall is critical and arguably the most important thing one can do. If possible, like in a plane crash midair try and grab wreckage to help slow you down.
Even if doing all these things, the odds of survival are extremely low and rare. At just 50 feet the odds of living are around 50%. This number goes down drastically with every ten feet added.
Vesna would struggle with survivors’ guilt for years and passed away at the age of 66 in 2016.
