The pilots plan was to eventually emerge in Chile and turn north to descend into Santiago. Instead, a decision was made to fly south, a direction that would see the plane fly parallel to the towering Andes Mountain range (Read 10).

After a brief stop at Mendoza, Argentina, the pilot decided that because of the foggy weather, they could not fly directly over the Andes. On board, were 45 people, mostly rugby players, their family and friends headed to Santiago, Chile for a match.

The FairchildFH-227D crash of 1972 was a catastrophe that involved a Uruguayan Air Force chartered plane that crashed in the Andes. In this essay, I will investigate Ripley’s three stage process of survival and how her research can also be used to explain the case of the 16 survivors from the Miracle of the Andes incident after their FairchildFH-227D crashed. Throughout the book, she is in search of clear patterns that make up human behavior that come into play during these occasions and sums the experience up by giving a three-stage process denial, deliberation and the proverbial decisive moment. Ripley points out that during moments of disaster it is common for people to think irrationally even when danger is looming. In this modern masterpiece, she offers a handbook that would aid victims of disasters get out alive by understanding the how the human body reacts during these high-stress situations and the steps that should be followed survive such an ordeal. Ripley makes a living as a high-ranking writer for the Time magazine covering homeland security and risk. Explore more videos.The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley offers an elaborate evaluation of what happens to an individual during a disaster, before the arrival of help from emergency personnel and the structure that can be imposed on the situation being experienced. Preptalks are given by subject-matter experts and through leaders to spread new ideas, spark conversation and promote innovative leadership for the issues confronting emergency managers over the next 20 years. Her first book, The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes-and Why, was described by NPR as “the thinking person’s manual for getting out alive.” Download PrepTalk Materials She has written feature stories about disasters, education and human behavior for Time magazine, The Atlantic, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Times of London. She explains that unless we have had the experience and/or the training to help us act quickly during moments of great peril, our instinctive response may be the worst possible reaction.Īmanda Ripley is a journalist and senior fellow at the Emerson Collective. In her PrepTalk, Amanda Ripley combines the inspiring stories of disaster survivors with research into how the brain works when confronted with unusual events.