1.

- Discuss the following questions:

 Do you think flying by airplane is dangerous?

 Are you afraid of flying?

2.- Read the passage below carefully and decide whether the statements below are true or false. Mark the boxes
under T for true or F for false.

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

aviation and survival incident, Argentina [1972]

Uruguayan Air Force flight 571, also called Miracle of the Andes or Spanish El Milagro de los Andes,
flight of an airplane charted by a Uruguayan amateur rugby team that crashed in the Andes mountains in
Argentina on October 13, 1972, the wreckage of which was not located for more than two months. Of the 45
people aboard the plane, only 16 survived the ordeal. The incident garnered international attention,
especially after it was revealed that the survivors had resorted to cannibalism.

Departure and crash

In 1972 the Old Christians Club charted a Uruguayan Air Force plane to transport the team from
Montevideo Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile. On October 12 the twin-engined Fairchild turboprop left Carrasco
International Airport, carrying 5 crew members and 40 passengers. In addition to club members, friends,
family, and others were also on board, having been recruited to help pay the cost of the plane. Because of
poor weather in the mountains, they were forced to stay overnight in, Mendoza Argentina, before departing
at about 2:18 pm the following day. Although Santiago lay to the west of Mendoza, the Fairchild was not
built to fly higher than approximately 22,500 feet (6,900 metres), so the pilots plotted a course south to the
Pass of Planchón, where the aircraft could safely clear the Andes. Approximately an hour after takeoff, the
pilot notified air controllers that he was flying over the pass, and shortly thereafter he radioed that he had
reached Curicó, Chile, some 110 miles (178 km) south of Santiago, and had turned north. The pilot,
however, had misjudged the location of the aircraft, which was still in the Andes. Unaware of the mistake,
controllers cleared him to begin descending in preparation for landing. Shortly thereafter, the Chilean
control tower was unable to contact the plane.

At approximately 3:30 pm on October 13 the aircraft struck a mountain, losing its right wing and then its left
wing before crashing into a remote valley of Argentina near the Chilean border. A search for the missing
plane was launched, but it soon became clear that the last reported location was incorrect. Rescue efforts
shifted to the Andes, and the survivors later reported spotting several planes. However, the snow-covered
mountains made detection of the white plane difficult. Furthermore, the harsh environment led many to
believe that there were no survivors. After eight days, the search was called off, though later rescue efforts
were undertaken by family members.

Survival and rescue

The crash initially killed 12 people, leaving 33 survivors, a number of whom were injured. At an altitude of
approximately 11,500 feet (3,500 metres), the group faced snow and freezing temperatures. While the
plane’s fuselage was largely intact, it provided limited protection from the harsh elements. In addition, the
meagre food supplies—mainly candy bars and wine—were gone in about a week. After a lengthy
discussion, the starving survivors resorted to eating corpses. Over the next few weeks six others died, and
further hardship struck on October 29, when an avalanche buried the fuselage and filled part of it with snow,
causing eight more deaths.

During this time, several survivors, the “expeditionaries,” had been surveying the area for an escape route.
On December 12, with just 16 people still alive, three expeditionaries set out for help, though one later
returned to the wreckage. After a difficult trek, the other two men finally came across three herdsmen in the
village of Los Maitenes, Chile, on December 20. However, the Chileans were on the opposite side of a river,
the noise of which made it hard to hear. The herdsmen indicated that they would return the following day.
Early the next morning, the Chileans reappeared, and the two groups communicated by writing notes on
paper that they then wrapped around a rock and threw across the water. The survivors’ initial note began, “I
come from a plane that fell in the mountains.” The authorities were notified, and on December 22 two
helicopters were sent to the wreckage. Six survivors were flown to safety, but bad weather delayed the eight
others from being rescued until the next day.

Aftermath

In the resulting media frenzy, the survivors revealed that they had been forced to commit cannibalism. The
admission caused a backlash until one of the survivors claimed that they had been inspired by the Last
Supper, in which Jesus gave his disciples bread and wine that he stated were his body and his blood. The
explanation helped sway public opinion, and the church later absolved the men.

The ordeal was the basis for a number of books and films, including the best seller Alive (1974) by Piers
Paul Read, which was adapted for the big screen in 1993. In addition, several survivors wrote books about
the ordeal.

T F
1. The crashing plane was taking a group of people who belonged to the Uruguayan Air Force
2. The whole cost of the flight was financed by the Old Christians Club.
3. The plane had to make a one-day stop in Mendoza, Argentina.
4. The control tower officers gave the pilot the wrong directions to get to Curicó.
5. The color of the Uruguayan plane made it hard to find as it blended in with the snow.
6. The search for survivors lasted several weeks before they lost all hope of finding them.
7. The survivors agreed to eat the flesh of those who had died in order to stay alive.
8. A large mass of snow covered the body of the plane and caused more deaths.
9. Some of the survivors decided to leave the plane and set out to find help.
10. The two helicopters were able to rescue all the survivors on the same day.
11. At first, the church condemned the survivors for having eaten human flesh.
12. The accident served as inspiration for a book which was then turned into a motion picture.

3.- Write a message to a friend inviting them to see the movie based on the plane crash. Give them a
summary of what the movie is about.
Key
1. F
2. F
3. T
4. F
5. T
6. F
7. T
8. T
9. T
10. F
11. T
12. T