Ernest Hemingway and His Wife Survived Two Plane Crashes Just One Day Apart. In 1954, Ernest Hemingway experienced a bout of astonishingly bad luck while flying over forests in Uganda.

While statistically astronomical, there are documented cases of "miracle survivors" who have endured multiple aviation incidents. The most famous is Vesna Vulović, a flight attendant who survived a 33,000-foot fall after her plane exploded in 1972—though that was a single event, she holds the record for highest fall survived. True "multiple-event" survivors are often military pilots or enthusiasts; for instance, Juliane Koepcke survived a 10,000-foot fall and 11 days in the Amazon in 1971, and while she didn't crash again, her story is often grouped with "sole survivors." Some historical accounts mention Larisa Savitskaya, who survived a mid-air collision and fall in 1981 and later faced other smaller travel incidents. In 2026, the term "survival" has also expanded to include people who survived a major crash and later experienced "emergency landings" or significant turbulence events. While rare, these individuals often suffer from life-long "Survivor's Guilt" and PTSD, making their physical survival only half of their incredible story.