LANSA Flight 508


LANSA Flight 508 was a Lockheed L-188A Electra turboprop, registered OB-R-941, operated as a scheduled domestic passenger flight by Lineas Aéreas Nacionales Sociedad Anonima, that crashed in a thunderstorm en route from Lima to Pucallpa, Peru, on December 24, 1971, killing 91 people–all six of its crew and 85 of its 86 passengers. It is the deadliest lightning strike disaster in history. The sole survivor was 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke, who while strapped to her seat fell into the Amazon rainforest. She survived the fall and was then able to walk through the jungle for 11 days until being rescued by local lumbermen. The Electra was LANSA's last aircraft; the company lost its operating permit eleven days later.

Crash

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, Peru. The aircraft was flying at about above Mean Sea Level when it encountered an area of thunderstorms and severe turbulence. There is evidence 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.

Death toll and survivor

The sole survivor was 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke. Despite a broken collar bone, a deep gash to her right arm, an eye injury, and concussion, she was able to trek through the dense Amazon jungle for 10 days and found shelter in a hut. Local lumbermen found her and took her by canoe back to civilization.
It was later determined that as many as 14 other passengers also survived the initial crash but died awaiting rescue.

In popular culture

The movie Miracles Still Happen is based on the story. Koepcke's story was also told in 1998 in the documentary film Wings of Hope by director Werner Herzog. Koepcke's memoir Als ich vom Himmel fiel was published by the German publisher Piper Malik on March 10, 2011.
The crash also features in the final season 1 episode of the Discovery Channel documentary Aircrash Confidential. The episode was first aired in 2011, and features an interview with sole survivor Koepcke.