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When I Fell from the Sky

The True Story of One Woman's Miraculous Survival

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About this listen

She was 17 years old on a Christmas Eve flight 40 years ago to join her father for Christmas when the unimaginable happened. The Lockheed L-188A Electra, on the way from Lima to Pucallpa, flew directly into a thunderstorm. A strike of lightning left the plane incinerated and Juliane Diller (Koepcke) still strapped to her plane seat falling through the night air two miles above the Earth. Her survival is unexplainable and considered a modern-day miracle. Her mother was among the 91 dead and Juliane the sole survivor. For 11 days she crawled and walked alone through the jungle, fighting for her survival again with hunger and despair her only companions as maggots ate their way into her wounds. Juliane ultimately survives and goes on to live an inspiring life as a scientist continually drawn back to the terrain that threatened to take her. On the 40th anniversary, she shares not only the private moments of her survival and rescue but her life in the wake of the dramatic true story.

©2011 Juliane Koepcke; Ross Benjamin (P)2024 Audible, Inc. Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Engineering Women Survival Winter Aviation Christmas
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Loved the narration (beautiful, clear diction and enunciation). I’d heard briefly about this story (most likely when the book was released) and so knew only the bare bones of the story. Fascinating insight into the event itself, the history of her parents and the consequences of how that event affected Juliane and her family, particularly her father. Brilliant

Beautifully narrated, fascinating story

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This is a fascinating story that I’d read about years ago and probably one of the false versions at that.
I’m so glad that the author decided to tell her story although there were some discrepancies between the book and the documentary, I could let that slide. The narration however was so overly enunciated to be irritating and distracting, particularly towards the end of the book, as I found myself focussing on it too much and switching off from the story.
Good listen if you’re not bothered by that.

Great book, annoying narration

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Not only do you get to hear the experiences Juliannes had from the plane crash, and her survival, but you also get to hear her constant ever evolving self reflection and thoughts. And, as well as this traumatic and life changing experience, she also shares the fascinating and important work her mother and father, and other people took on. Her work continues too.

This is one audio book i couldn't stop listening to. what an amazing woman.

It also helps that the narrator had such a clear and inviting voice. You would believe it was her story rather than Juliannes, as she read with such passion and depth.

Highly recommend this audio book.

Truly breathtaking

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If you’re looking to be taken on a shocking and emotional journey of a plane crash victim— this is not the book for you. As this book does not follow the events of the plane crash chronologically and can feel disjointed at times, jumping through Juliana’s life story and her parents in bits and pieces. It can be hard to follow and lacks the storytelling finesse you might expect or seek from this story.

However, it is clear Juliana has not written this book to tell the most emotive or sensational version of her plane crash story- she has written it to chronicle both hers and her parents incredible lives and to honour their precious home in the at risk Amazon jungle.

The story of the plane crash and the aftermath IS shocking and emotional and at times I had to take breaks and return when I felt more regulated as thinking about what Young Juliana endured was too much to bare. But it’s not the focal point. This is an autobiography.

Being taken into the lesser known Amazon Rainforest and getting insights into what it would be like to grow and learn there was a real joy to listen to. I learnt so much about a time and place so far from my own and I’m very grateful and I am so glad that Juliana got to tell her own story in her own words and centre herself and the conservation of the rainforest and not the traumatic events that shaped her life in her formative years.

Interesting autobiography from an incredible woman

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