Not only is flying in a plane the fastest way to get to your destination, but also the safest.
Statistics suggest that passengers are at more risk of getting involved in a transportation-related accident in the cars on the way to the airport than during the flight itself.
Bear in mind this does not necessarily mean that air transportation is invulnerable or always 100% safe.
There can be unexpected issues that may interfere with the airplane midair, such as bad weather, engine malfunction, and pilot errors, either of which can result in a crash.
Chances are the vast majority of people will never experience a plane crash, but accidents do happen. Juliane Koepcke tells the tale of how a 17-year-old survived a horrible plane crash in the middle of a jungle in Peru in 1971.
Despite her broken bones, maggot-infested wound, and all the unfortunate circumstances, she never really lost hope and managed to stay alive just long enough until help found her in the weakest of condition.
Twenty-seven years later, in the crash site, she revisited the plane’s still scattered remains.
10 /10 Born In Peru
Juliane is the daughter of a renowned zoologist Hans-Wilhelm and a revered ornithologist Maria Koepcke.
She was enrolled at a Peruvian high school when her parents were stationed in a remote research outpost in the Amazon, hundreds of miles away from civilization. Juliane was born in Lima, Peru, on October 10, 1954.
The harsh Amazonian environment is nothing strange to her from the very beginning. Her upbringing and familiarity with living in the deep wilderness would later contribute a great deal to her survival amid the plane crash.
9 /10 Into A Thunderstorm
It was Christmas Eve 1971. Just hours after the high school graduation ceremony, the 17-year-old Juliane and mother were heading home to her father in Panguana, a biological research station in the heart of Amazon.
The two boarded a Lockheed L-188A Electra turboprop that was supposed to cross the Peruvian rain forest.
Had nothing unexpected happened, the flight would have taken less than an hour to the destination.
Not half an hour after takeoff, the plane flew into a thunderstorm. From the window seat in the back row, Juliane saw lightning hit the right-wing. The aircraft went into a nosedive.