When I Fell From The Sky
by Juliane Koepcke
Juliane Koepcke was 17 years old when she and her mother boarded a flight in Peru on Christmas Eve 40 years ago to meet Juliane’s father. Flying into a thunderstorm, a strike of lightening incinerated the plane and Juliane, still strapped to her seat, fell 10,000 feet through the night air landing relatively unharmed in the Peruvian jungle. The only survivor of the 92 passengers, Juliane lived in the jungle for 11 days, fighting against hunger, nature’s elements and despair as maggots ate their way into her wounds.
“The thought of why I was the only survivor haunts me," author Juliane Koepcke, now 57 comments. "It always will. I remember my mother wasn’t nervous, only concerned just moments before the plane broke apart. I heard an incredibly loud motor and people screaming, and then it was calm, incredibly calm. I could only hear the wind in my ears. Still attached to my seat, I was free falling in a tailspin. I saw the canopy of the forest beneath me. For me the jungle was never a green hell, but a place that kept me alive.”
Juliane is only one of a handful of air accident survivors. She takes the reader through a detailed and thrilling recount of her survival for 11 days in the Peruvian rain forest. Juliane will be in NY the week of Oct. 22nd to promote When I Fell from the Sky which was recognized by Top 10 Spiegel Bestseller List as an International Bestseller for its Germany release in April 2011.
Reviews
In The Media
Interview with Juliane Koepcke on Univision's Aqui y Ahora
Fox and Friends - Juliane Koepcke - When I Fell From The Sky
Reveal Magazine Article (PDF)