Juliane Koepcke survived a long free fall resulting from the December 24 , 1971 , crash of LANSA Flight 508 ( a LANSA Lockheed Electra OB-R-941 commercial airliner ) in the Peruvian rainforest . The airplane was struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm and exploded in mid air , disintegrating up . Köpcke , who was 17 years old at the time , fell to earth still strapped into her seat . The German Peruvian teenager survived the fall with only a broken collarbone , a gash to her right arm , and her right eye swollen shut
LANSA Flight 508
LANSA Flight 508
Free fall