On January 26, 1972, a villager in modern-day Czechia heard faint screams coming from the smoldering wreckage of a commercial airliner. Amidst the shattered metal was 22-year-old flight attendant Vesna Vulović.
In an event that continues to baffle aviation and medical experts, she had just plummeted more than 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) to the ground without a parachute—and lived. This is the factual account of JAT Flight 367 and the incredible chain of events that led to a world record survival.
A Scheduling Error at Yugoslav Airlines
Vesna Vulović originally joined Yugoslav Airlines to travel across Europe. She nearly failed her initial medical exam due to unusually low blood pressure, passing only after drinking multiple cups of coffee. After just eight months on the job, she received a summons for JAT Flight 367, traveling from Stockholm to Belgrade.
Vulović instantly recognized the airline had made a mistake, confusing her with another employee named Vesna. Despite the error, she accepted the assignment, thrilled at the prospect of visiting Denmark for the first time.
The Mid-Air Destruction of JAT Flight 367
The trip did not go as planned. Vulović later recalled the crew acting strangely downtrodden before departure. At 3:15 p.m., the aircraft took off from Copenhagen Airport.
Exactly 46 minutes into the flight, as the plane cruised above the Czechoslovakian village of Srbska Kamenice, a suspected briefcase bomb exploded in the baggage compartment. The blast tore the fuselage apart in mid-air. All 28 passengers and crew members were sent plummeting 33,330 feet (10,159 meters) toward the freezing earth below.
Surviving the Unsurvivable Plummet
Against all known odds, Vulović survived the massive impact. Investigators identified several highly specific factors that aligned to save her life. First, she was situated in the rear section of the fuselage, which broke away cleanly and landed on a heavily forested, snow-covered mountainside.
Second, she was pinned in place by a food cart, preventing her from being sucked out into the open sky during the sudden depressurization. Finally, doctors theorized that her naturally low blood pressure kept her heart from bursting upon final impact. She was discovered by Bruno Honke, a local villager and former World War II medic, who kept her alive until rescue teams arrived.
A Medical Marvel
Her physical condition was catastrophic. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, a crushed pelvis, and two broken legs. She spent days in a coma, paralyzed from the waist down, and woke up with complete amnesia regarding the explosion and the fall.
The very first thing she asked for upon regaining consciousness was a cigarette. Astoundingly, after intensive surgeries, she was walking again within 10 months. She lived until 2016, carrying the Guinness World Record for the highest fall survived without a parachute.