Collins Maps

“Twenty-seven years later It wasn’t until 2006 that Norman had the courage to look up the National Transportation Safety Board’s Accident Report for the crash and read the transcription of the pilot’s radio conversation with air traffic control. They had been doomed almost from takeoff. The pilot was using an underpowered plane with insufficient instruments on a rough day. He didn’t get a weather briefing or file a flight plan. He shouldn’t have taken off let alone headed into the storm. Thirty seconds into the flight he seemed lost and he was warned three times by air traffic control not to continue flying as he was. Big Bear airport was at an altitude of 2,100 m (7,000 ft) and was unmanned. Even with the right instruments and a modern plane it would have been all but impossible to land that day. Norman also went back up to the mountain to where Sandra had fallen. He paid his respects and continued up to the site of the crash. He was surprised, but even from that high vantage point he couldn’t see the meadow where he had been rescued. The big ridge blocked it out. So how had he known where to head for that day? Had he sensed the most likely place to find another human being? Was he lucky? Or maybe, just maybe, someone was looking out for him. This story is a brief retelling of the events in Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad, published by HarperPress. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd © 2009 Norman Ollestad.”
― Collins Maps, Extreme Survivors: 60 of the World’s Most Extreme Survival Stories

“Survivors in the wrecked fuselage after rescuers reached them. The group then decided on a new plan: a few of the fittest men would set out on an expedition to get help. They would be allocated a large ration of food and the warmest clothes, and would be excused other group duties in order to build up their strength for the trek. ‘... they would have to get themselves out of the mountains if they were to survive.’ The group chose Nando Parrado, a business student, Roberto Canessa, one of the two medical students and Antonio Vizintín to make the journey. Canessa had the clearest idea of the trials they would face and he insisted that they wait as long as possible to let the warmer weather of spring get at least a foothold in the mountains. In the end they waited almost seven weeks before setting off. The reality of their situation Although their ultimate goal was Chile in the west, the mountain that lay”
― Collins Maps, Extreme Survivors: 60 of the World’s Most Extreme Survival Stories