Why did LANSA Flight 508 crash? What was the destination of Juliane Koepcke?

Juliane Koepcke is a German Peruvian mammalogist who rose to fame as the sole survivor of the LANSA Flight 508 plane crash.

Juliane Koepcke, also known as Juliane Diller, was born on October 10, 1954, in Lima, Peru to parents Maria Koepcke and Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke. She was the only child of biologist Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke and ornithologist Maria Koepcke who are both German.

Juliane Koepcke’s parents worked at the Museum of Natural History, Lima. Her parents later relocated to establish Panguana, a research station in the Amazon rainforest when she was 14.

Juliane Koepcke, however, returned to the German international school, Deutsche Schule Lima Alexander von Humboldt where she graduated on 23 December 1971. She flew on LANSA Flight 508 on Christmas Eve 1971 alongside her mother, Maria.

Juliane Koepcke’s flight came to an unfortunate end as the plane got struck by lightning,  disintegrating in midair, and plummeting to the ground. Juliane Koepcke survived a fall of 3,000 m, still strapped to her seat, into the Peruvian rain forest.

Juliane Koepcke’s mother died and she became the sole survivor of the LANSA Flight 508 plane crash. She went on to survived 11 days alone in the Amazon rainforest. Her survival story has been included in her own autobiography, When I Fell From the Sky, as well as a documentary by director Werner Herzog called Wings of Hope.

Juliane Koepcke has also earned a degree in biology just like her parents, at the University of Kiel in 1980.  She received a doctorate from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and returned to Peru to do extensive research on bats.

Why did LANSA Flight 508 crash?

The LANSA Flight 508 crashed because the plane got struck by lightning.

What was the destination of Juliane Koepcke?

Juliane Koepcke was headed to Panguana.