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Do You Think She Got Free Cable?
415 Plays2 years ago
Liam Neeson and Tom Cruise have no problem surviving plane crashes. Others who can do it with ease are Schwarzenegger, Stallone and on a good day, Nicolas Cage. But topping them all, is Vesna Vulovic. She actually survived a 33,000 foot fall, without a #parachute, after the plane she was on was bombed. And she survived. And lived an actual life. How, you ask? Fuck if we know. But it's a crazy story and worth a listen.
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Transcript
Boxing and Nostalgia
00:00:00
Speaker
Well, you guys know how I feel about sports. So I feel the same way about it. Yeah, you don't feel like good sports. I can imagine that you are with soccer.
00:00:07
Speaker
Do you know the one thing to actually do it? Actually, I will every once in a while enjoy watching a boxing match. I will enjoy that. Wow, that's random. Yeah. Even though the fix is in? I love how he says that. Like, I'll get my popcorn out and a nice Diet Coke and just sit right on the edge of my couch and watch Mike Tyson bites him in zero.
00:00:30
Speaker
Yeah. I used to watch, me and my brother used to watch boxing back then when Tyson was around. Tyson was awesome to watch because it didn't take up a lot of time. It's like six hours of pre-fight and the fight was 16 seconds. That guy was incredible. It was unreal.
00:00:49
Speaker
Even now, even now, because he has some sort of, is it Parkinson or? I don't know what he has, but he's not doing great. Even now, and I'm not making a joke, even now, that guy could kick my ass. Oh my God. Yeah, so I'm just like. He could be in hospice and kick your ass. It's true. He could be. It's very true.
Podcast Introduction and Social Media
00:01:13
Speaker
History Defeats Itself is a comedy podcast. Kevin, John, and Greg are not experts, historians, or even all that smart.
00:01:35
Speaker
I don't know what I was gonna say. Welcome to History Defeats Itself, a comedy podcast that looks at events or people from the past and wonders why do we never learn from our history? Only one of us knows the topic and the other two are in the dark, learning along, right with you. That was not a very good sentence. I should not have looked away from my notes. My name is Kevin, and as always, I am joined by Dizzy Izzie, John Banks, and...
00:02:03
Speaker
The guy with the flu, Craig Mitchell. Well, he's afraid to say it. He is. Yeah, very tumultuous times we're living in right now. Yes, that is. I don't want to be like yay. Is it yay or ye? We went over this. I don't know. It seems like it should be yay. But it's not yay old tavern, it's ye old tavern. Yeah, but he is going... When does he follow rules?
00:02:30
Speaker
His name was Kanye, so he got rid of the first three letters. Which is clearly made up, you know? Yeah, what is his real name? Do we know? I don't know. Is that not his real name? I don't know. No. That seems like one that he might be the only one, you know? Like, if that is his real name. Because, like, it's like, I don't know. Do you think we're ever going to see another Oprah? I don't think we're going to see another Oprah. No, I hope not. I thought that was just rude. I mean, just the name. She's lovely. What do you have against Oprah?
00:02:57
Speaker
I meant the name, too. I don't know what you're talking about. She and I ate summer in the Hamptons. I didn't realize you were wealthy. He's not. You know what, John? All you got to do is pay for a plane ticket. That's true. And then you cut the grass? You have like a little side business in the summer? No, he has to say a thousand yards from her property. I don't like how you're questioning my relationship.
00:03:22
Speaker
So shall we get started? Yes. Greg is under the weather. So we're going to move pretty fast here. Real quick, though, follow us on TikTok and Instagram. And we apologize to anyone who tried to watch the video last episode.
00:03:38
Speaker
We had some technical difficulties. Yep, that's the word. That is the word. Apparently someone has not been paying the bills. Nope, not paying the bills. So yeah, anyway, just search history defeats itself on YouTube and you will get to our page. Subscribe, tell your friends. I need porn. And if you subscribe and tell your friends, Greg will send you porn. That's true. Not good porn, though. No, no. Homemade porn. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, that's not good. All right.
00:04:08
Speaker
It's me, right? I'm the guy. I'm the one doing it. Doing the porn or doing the episode? Sure. Whatever pays the bills. So let me ask you to a question.
Airplane Anxieties and Vesna Vulevic's Story
00:04:21
Speaker
Yes. Have you ever been on a plane before it takes off and you think to yourself, fuck, what if there's a bomb on here and we blow up?
00:04:30
Speaker
I've I've had can I go first I'm gonna yeah, I think I've had every possible Anxiety filled scenario played out in my head Shocking so yes almost every time I've been on a plane I definitely you know sometimes if you see
00:04:48
Speaker
You know, shady looking guy. You know, you wonder. Hmm. Yeah. What's in that guy's Nikes? Well, I too, gentlemen, used to share your fear, but since I read about Vesna Vulevic, I no longer have that fear. So tonight... I love a Vespa.
00:05:09
Speaker
Oh, well, yeah, there's no there's there's maybe there's no there's no whole of it. The first known act of sabotage in a commercial in commercial aviation happened on October 10th, 1933. Wow, that was early.
00:05:26
Speaker
I know it was a Boeing 247 was destroyed by a bomb, basically dynamite because nitroglycerin was the main explosive. So basically somebody threw some dynamite in a bomb and they at the time they believed it was a some sort of Chicago gang or a thing. You know, that's right. They were always very, very friendly in their disputes. Well, so here's what so it used to be that it was
00:05:53
Speaker
People would try to blow up planes for insurance fraud. That was basically from the 30s to about the 60s. That was kind of the main reason people were blowing up planes. The owner of the plane? Like, he's doing this. It's like the people that united are like.
00:06:08
Speaker
Well, it used to be if you died in an airplane crash or explosion or whatever, the insurance would pay out three to one. I no longer think that is the case. So if you had $100,000 worth of insurance and you blew up in a plane crash, then your spouse would get $300,000. So it's basically this deal where crime organizations would go to like a
00:06:32
Speaker
the wife or whatever of some husband, they'd blow up the whole fucking plane. So they'd kill a whole bunch of people to get this one guy, and then basically they would squeeze the wife or the husband who was left. Can they just rob a fucking bank? Yeah, it seems like a lot of effort.
00:06:46
Speaker
You know, I don't know. Maybe you get bored of robbing banks. You got to get a little creative with life, I guess. But and then starting around like the late 50s, early 60s, it started to become more about assassinations. So there'd be some person on a plane. And again, it's really fucked up to blow up a plane and kill everybody. You know, it's like just kill the one person that you want to kill. But anyway, or at least just push them out of the plane. Yeah. Right. Or, you know, just shoot them before they go in the plane. Yeah. Like.
00:07:16
Speaker
That does seem like it would be a lot less strenuous. Just murder them in their home at night or something. Yeah, right. Not to mention the psychological horror you're committing, because now everyone's afraid to fly. Maybe that's part of the allure. It's like being choked during sex, you know? It's allure murder. It's a little excitement.
00:07:41
Speaker
There have been 86 cases related to airline bombings, 53 of them resulting in deaths. So, and when they say 86 cases, some of them were like, they were plots to blow up stuff and they were foiled before they could get to it. You get a caper, see? Here's what I'm gonna do. You're gonna start talking, you're gonna start talking now. Flight 367.
00:08:10
Speaker
was one of these 86 incidents. Flight 367 departed from Stockholm, Orlando Airport at 1.30 p.m. on January 26, 1972. Was that Stockholm, Wisconsin? It was Stockholm, Wisconsin. Yes, no, this was Stockholm, Sweden, some of the sweetest shelf. Yep. Hey, that's where my people are from. That's why I'm the color I am. Oh. Actually, let me rephrase. That's why I lack the color that I do. That's why all your furniture in the background is like, yeah.
00:08:39
Speaker
Yeah. It's also why you're so tall. And you're always early. And like muscly. And always eating meatballs. Those parts. No. Always eating meatballs. I do love a good meatball. I know. Greg and I always say that about you when you're not around. I bet you have like meatball implants. Where are they? Oh, they're in here. Oh, biceps. That makes sense. That makes sense.
00:09:09
Speaker
The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-932, which is basically a jet that holds about 90 people. So it's a pretty small jet compared to what we're playing with. You would say that if you were on it. Well, I mean, it's small compared to like a 737. I guess it is still a small jet. Or a 777. No matter if you're on it.
00:09:31
Speaker
I'm going to retract. I'm not sure that the view really matters if you're on it or looking at it or hearing about it in a podcast. I mean, I thought it was a small jet, and then I got on it. It was still a small jet. It was still small, but it was bigger than I thought, but not really. Very tubular. So this DC 932 landed at Copenhagen Airport at 2.30 PM on January 26.
00:10:00
Speaker
where it was taken over by Vesna Volovic and her colleagues. So basically, you know, like when planes land, they like switch crews sometimes, because it's like a crew's been flying for so many hours, so they have to, yeah. So that's basically what was happening. So it flew from Stockholm to Copenhagen, and they switched out the crew. So this is a quote from
00:10:22
Speaker
Vesna of all of it, but she's shadowing she's check so you pronounced it like 50 different ways I'm gonna make it's gonna be 72 different ways of one of those right too. Yeah. Yeah, so
00:10:37
Speaker
Kevin, what I'm gonna need you to do is when we're done, you figure out which one's right and then cut it and edit it in all the times that I say it. You got time for that, right? That's very easy. Yes, yeah. So she, in an interview later, like she was interviewed after, so the plane is, no, I mean, I had to spoil this, but the plane's gonna crash and she survived. I figured it'd probably crash. Yeah, just judging by where we were heading with this. But the crazy part of this is how she survived.
00:11:04
Speaker
Right, or that she did survive, so it's pretty crazy. So, but she later said, as it was late, we were in the terminal and saw it part, it being the jet. I saw all the passengers and crew to plane. One man seemed terribly annoyed. It was not only me that noticed him either. Other crew members? It was Greg Mitchell. It was a very ornery old Jewish man. Who's like always seems to be sick.
00:11:30
Speaker
Well, it's January 26, 1972, so you were 107 at this time, Greg. I can either be sick or blurry. He does actually, ironically, look better than he ever has. You look fantastic. Yeah.
00:11:44
Speaker
Other crew members saw him, as did the station manager in Copenhagen. I think it was the man who put the bomb in the baggage. I think he had checked in a bag in Stockholm, got off in Copenhagen, and never re-boarded the flight. Well, that sounds sus. Done. Done. Done. Kevin, are those your dogs barking? God, you didn't hear that? Yeah. Hey, Kevin, who let the dogs out? Who? Who? Sounds like somebody needs to let the dogs out. No, she's outside.
00:12:14
Speaker
No. What are they barking at? What's the temperature out there? How the fuck should I know? No, you've got a window. Don't you? It's dark and it's cold. It's like 20 degrees here. He's got a cut out of me and John making out. Wait, wait, wait. So the dogs are like super homophobic. Just a follow up question. Can you not see through colds?
00:12:35
Speaker
Cause you don't have the window open. The blinds are closed. It's dark open. Okay. Okay. All right. Fair. I was just confused of why the weather had anything to do with your ability to see, but I got it. The windows closed. Blinds are shut. Okay. Because it's cold. I understand. I understand. I don't possess that. It's you've known me for 13 years. You should know that. How do you know how long I've known you? I count the days.
00:13:05
Speaker
Sounds like it's been 13 years too long. Well, 12 years, 364 days. That one day at that bar was a lot of fun. Yeah, that one day was a lot of fun. And it has been downhill. It has never lived up to that expectation. Nope, sure has it. The aircraft.
00:13:23
Speaker
Piloted by Captain Ludwig Razdry, and First Officer Ratko Mihic broke into three pieces. What is with these names? Can we not get you the John Smith? Like, seriously? Yeah, why can't people in all of these stories just be American? It would make it a lot easier. Well, I guess like... This story has been modified to suit lazy Americans.
00:13:45
Speaker
So, Captain Louis Razzie and First Officer Rico Mahicki. So, I don't know. Were you trying to make names easier? Rico Mahicki? I'm not going to lie, it's kind of cool.
00:14:05
Speaker
Are you going to be thinking changing your kid's name? Yeah, I think so. Come here, Rico. So the plane broke into three pieces and spun out of control. That's not that many. Well, I mean, after explosion came from the luggage department of the plane, crashing into the village. I think Eddie is too many for it. Yeah, seriously. More than one. Like a piece. Even one piece flying off the plane is going to freak you out.
00:14:27
Speaker
Which I think, actually, someone told me, I don't know if this is true or not, but a jet, like a jet with four engines can actually land and fly with only one working engine. Yeah, I've heard, I know they can, I don't know exactly what the number is, but I know they don't need all the engines to land, so that's by design, obviously. Well, yeah, yeah. And there's something about, was it on the last episode where they shoot frozen turkeys at jet engines to test them?
00:14:54
Speaker
I don't remember that. That is news to me. Okay. No, no, no. Last time all we did was talk about molasses. I think John's cheating on us and doing a different podcast. It's all about aviation. It sounds like it's a Martha Stewart podcast. About Martha Stewart aviation. It's Martha Stewart hosting with John and Snoop Dogg. It's actually really good. It is. It's very entertaining. He's a very charming man. Yes.
00:15:22
Speaker
So the plane breaks apart and lands in this village of Cepresca Comonesia. I don't know why it came out of 10, because it's a Czech Republic, the old Czechoslovakia. So it landed basically the plane breaks apart over Czechoslovakia. Of the 28 on board, 27 were killed upon ground impact and one Yugoslav crew member, Vesna Vulevic, 22 years old at the time, survived. But here's the crazy fucking part.
00:15:54
Speaker
Vesna, who was born on January 3rd, 1950, and died on December 23rd, 2016, holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute at 10,160 meters, or for the three fucking countries that don't use the metric system, 33,330 feet, or 6.3 miles. This human fell 6.3 miles, because as soon as the plane blew up, she flew out of the plane.
00:16:20
Speaker
So she falls 6.3 miles out of the sky and hits the ground and doesn't die. Isn't that fucking insane? What did she... She just landed on the ground. No way, come on. Yes, yes. I'm no scientist, but that doesn't seem right. Maybe she landed on a cotton cat and cotton candy factory.
00:16:42
Speaker
No shit was the my pillow guy that's not in his pillows. She landed on the my His mustache is very cushiony. Yeah, what John you understand the skepticism here how explain
00:16:58
Speaker
So a plane blows up. How did she not fucking die? There's no, there's no like reason why she didn't die, right? There's, there's no, there's no reason you can say like, Oh, like she didn't, you know? Um, and so, so basically, and she may, she may have actually fallen in the, the jet because, but when she was discovered by a war two vet, um, and he, she was not in the plane at that time. She was on the ground. So it is, it is possible she could have actually hit the ground in the plane, but still,
00:17:25
Speaker
6.3 miles right in a metal tube even it sounds impossible. Yeah.
Vesna's Recovery and Life After
00:17:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's crazy. I mean was she all fucked up? Oh, yeah Yeah, yeah, she's super fucked up and so she and just like She's like that shit was crazy How do I get home now? Is there a Starbucks
00:17:49
Speaker
So following the crash, Veza spent three days in a coma, having fractured her skull and her brain was hemorrhaging. She also suffered two broken legs and three broken vertebrae, one of which was crushed completely, her pelvis was fractured, and several ribs broken. Right? Unrelated to the fall.
00:18:12
Speaker
It was a pre-existing condition and the insurance company did not like pay for it. Well, she was part of it. She was part of the Yugoslavian Air Fight Club. Yeah, so that's actually what it was. Yep. So and she couldn't talk about it because everyone knows the first to rule of the Fight Club.
00:18:28
Speaker
So especially the Yugoslavian one. Yeah, that would be that's cold. Those people live fucking hard. Just just like you. If you're in that kind of weather, you're just a tough human being. Yeah. I think Greg told me one time he had like he knew a Russian woman and she said they don't smile because their teeth freeze. Is that correct, Greg? Did you tell me that I could have said that I have a really bad memory and I can't remember half the shit I say and a fever. So that doesn't help either. Nope. And a fantastic beanie. It was a nice beanie.
00:18:57
Speaker
Her injuries resulted- Mikey, you've got a sponsor. Yet. I bet that would sponsor us. Three athletic guys like us. I was thinking like- Did they drop Kanye or who- That's Adidas. Adidas. That's right. So they're looking for somebody, right? Adidas. If you're looking for a replacement, we're Adidas. I do too. I like them very much. I don't think that I could run 6.3 miles
00:19:27
Speaker
and be okay. And yet falling 6.3 miles, it's just crazy that she... I wonder how long that took. And clearly she was knocked out, right? Because... No, she was not. She was conscious. But you said she could have been going down with the plane.
00:19:43
Speaker
Right. Well, so here's the thing. So she, remember, and I don't know how to stress this enough, she fell 6.3 miles. No, I get that. Did I mention that? So she had, and she had brain hemorrhaging, so she had amnesia. The last thing she remembers, and I'll get to it at some point, but I'll just say it. So the last thing she remembers is she remembers greeting people, getting on the plane, and then she remembers
00:20:05
Speaker
Two weeks after her being in the hospital, when her parents told her that she had been in a plane crash and showed her like some article in a newspaper, that was like her first memory of what actually, or that was her first knowledge of knowing that she'd been in a plane crash. So, yeah.
00:20:24
Speaker
Her injuries resulted in her being temporarily paralyzed below the waist. She had total amnesia from the hour preceding her fall. She should have been paralyzed from the world. How on earth? I mean, that's insanity. Yeah, I know. She definitely should have been unalived. Unalived. She's definitely been unalived. That's Liam Neeson's new trilogy. He's come that way.
00:20:51
Speaker
I've survived so many plane crashes. I have a certain set of skills. I have a certain set of skills. I'm Liam Neeson, God damn it. That allowed me not to die. 6.3 miles? Okay, 6.4? We're in trouble. Impossible. Liam would just take his jacket off and just parachute to safety.
00:21:11
Speaker
Well, no, he would be holding his jack on one hand and shooting at the earth with a gun in the other hand, somehow shoring. Just as often as landing. He's shooting at the roof of the cotton candy factory? Yeah, exactly. Amazingly, though, he'd be shooting the guy who blew up the plane, too, because he just somehow was able to find him from 6.3 miles up. Yup. And he would somehow shoot wool shears, sheep shears. It would shear the sheep, and he would land in just cotton candy and wool.
00:21:42
Speaker
Don't get those confused though. No, no, it would not be nice to eat a bunch. Very itchy going down. So, uh, yeah. So she had amnesia from the hour preceding her fall until one month afterwards, I guess not too. So it was a month. So she basically had amnesia for a month. Um, her parents told her that she first, or her parents, yeah, her parents, I just told you that. Um,
00:22:03
Speaker
And she actually, yo, that was, yeah. So she actually, she was so shocked by the fact that she had been in this plane crash that when her parents told her and she read the news articles, she actually passed out from the shock. So she was like totally, which for someone who's so hardy, kind of a fragile, yeah, she passes out a lot for someone who survived a 6.3 mile. We can't handle this. I think it'll be in a coma. Did she have like a fainting couch? Oh,
00:22:27
Speaker
I think she was paralyzed as she was already laying down. Okay, so I Mean probably just a hospital bed. Okay. I mean I didn't I didn't dig in to that part I'll have to have to update and then I tend to detail sucks Let me make a note on all episodes fainting bit I
00:22:52
Speaker
So I said, uh, oh, so yes. And so she was so, she like, she was so like, so she passed out and then she woke back up and she was like, just terrified of what happened. So they actually had to like sedate her to calm her down. Cause she was being hysterical. Like a 1905 lady would be. Um, yeah. Well, she better drug her up then. She's not as tough as I thought she was. No.
00:23:16
Speaker
Well, and so here's what's crazy is like, she, she ends up, cause here's the thing, remember or not remember, if I'm in a plane and it crashes, one, I'm never, I'm driving everywhere or I'm taking a boat, right? Never, never going to get on a fucking jet again. And second, I would definitely not work in one, but she was like, yeah, I'll go back to work. No big deal. Right. For real. It seems like she's getting nothing to lose. That's true. Well, she, she can't die by plane crash. She knows that. So yeah. What are the chances of another one?
00:23:44
Speaker
I mean, that's true. Well, there's only been... We haven't heard the whole story yet, John. Did she do that again? She did. This time following 9.8 miles. So, Vesna underwent treatment in a Prague hospital until March 12th, 1972, after which she was flown to Belgrade. Her hospital room was placed under 24-hour police protection because authorities feared that the perpetrators of the bombing would wish to kill her.
00:24:24
Speaker
Well, so they didn't know who did the bomb. And actually, what's crazy is to this day, they don't know who did it. Or who the target was. Well, they believe it to be a Czechoslovakian terrorist organization, but they actually don't know who. That's never been confirmed 100%, and the actual perpetrator of it has never been found.
00:24:37
Speaker
The guards changed shifts every six hours and no one was allowed to see her except for her parents and doctors.
00:24:49
Speaker
So let's solve this thing. Yeah. We'll turn this into a true crime podcast. Yes. This is like the Goonies. Yeah. We'll figure this out and then we'll figure out the whole DB Cooper thing. So if anyone listening knows what happened on this plane, please tell us that we'll put it on our podcast and take all the credit. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I'm not doing research. I'm still working on this hernia surgery. It's just not healing the way it's supposed to. You didn't have to do that. You just have to recover.
00:25:15
Speaker
Yeah. Now imagine recovering falling 6.3 miles. I think she's a witch. I think so. And you said she lived till like 2016? 2016, yeah. Yeah. So she would have been, what was that? Uh, 50, 60, 60, 66 years old. Oh, okay. Yeah. Um, Volovec's hospitalization lasted until June, 1972, after which she traveled to Montenegro to recuperate at a seaside resort where her doctors visit her every two or three days.
00:25:45
Speaker
So she recuperated at a seaside resort. Maybe she planted the bomb. Knowing full well that she could be at a seaside resort. That's true. But again, how did she survive? That makes zero sense. Maybe she really did have a parachute.
00:25:59
Speaker
Maybe she, maybe right before the plane hit, she jumped up and she was like, I'm good. Yeah. To stop the gravity. Like that should work. It's what they say to do in an elevator. And by they, I mean people who've never died in an elevator. You're supposed to jump right before it hits the ground. That's what they say. So, cause it, it, it will, you'll still break your legs, but it will prevent you from snapping your spine. Yeah. I think I'm just going to go at that point.
00:26:27
Speaker
How do you know when to jump? Well, it should still, it should ding all the way down. As soon as you see the two, I would jump at the two. Yep. Well, depending on how fast it's going, maybe the three. See, you're not gonna time it right. What do you think? You're not gonna time it right. When would you jump? Yeah, when would you jump? I think you're fucked. No matter what.
00:26:51
Speaker
Well, you know what? I hope I'm never in an elevator with such a negative person when it's crashing. Yeah. I want to be, I want to be jumping up and down the whole time. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. Um.
00:27:05
Speaker
She underwent several operations to restore her movement. At first, she can only move her right leg, and one month thereafter, she was able to move her, I'm sorry, she can only move her left leg, and one month later, she was able to move her right leg. Thank you for getting that right. Yes, yeah, I mean, yeah, I do know how you loved a fact check, Kevin. We would have gotten so many angry letters. Yeah, but we're definitely gonna get sued. Like the letter Q? That always seems like the angriest letter. It does not look very happy. Query.
00:27:30
Speaker
Queer, as in, it's very queer that you fall 6.3 miles and don't die. How would you like to be a letter that always has to be followed by the same letter? You know? You mean like QQ? That'd piss me off. No, I'm saying like you always gotta have a U afterwards. It's just fucking tired of the U, that's the problem. Yeah, why, who did that? It's stupid. Yeah. Doesn't make any fucking sense. All right. Fuck English. We should do an episode about it.
00:27:59
Speaker
Fuck the letter, this is our version of Sesame Street. Fuck the letter Q. I think we did one on, I think we did that one on, on English. Yeah, we don't know, that was a joke, that was my joke. We did. You, you let Greg. Oh, okay. You've done it several times. Several times you've done stuff with words. Greg. Several times? Yes. Man.
00:28:20
Speaker
Her parents had to sell both of their cars to pay for her treatment. Within 10 months of her fall, she had regained the ability to walk, but limp for the rest of her life. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. The airline did not cover this? Right? I guess not. I mean, you lost 25 passengers, like maybe... No, no, no, 27. 27. Yeah. Maybe go ahead and just float the bill for the one remaining survivor.
00:28:49
Speaker
It was a different time. You know, it was the 70s, people were living free. Yeah. They gave her like an old Victrola as like a parting gift and that was it. They gave her Toblerone. This is fantastic, you're gonna love it. When you can walk again, you're really gonna enjoy this. Yeah, as soon as we unwire your jaw, you'll be really gonna enjoy this chocolate. So the reason she limped for the rest of her life,
00:29:16
Speaker
It's because she always wanted sympathy from people. Yep, she was such an attention whore. Fucking martyr. And, and her spine was twisted. Oh, big deal. She should have jumped. That's what I'm saying. That's really, that's what the whole point of this podcast is. Jump. Yeah, jump. It's like Van Halen said. I was going to say this podcast sponsored by any Van Halen. No, well, his, his, his, his legacy.
00:29:44
Speaker
So in total, she spent 16 months recuperating. That's not that bad. That's not that bad, all things considered. I feel like it should be like 16 years. And again, she should be dead. Tough, tough human being. Oh, yeah.
00:30:01
Speaker
I mean, remember what a little bitch you were when you punctured your lung, Kevin? Or when you did whatever you did, Greg, or when I got my hernia surgery? Like, we're not tough people. We're not tough. We are not crash and survive a jet kind of people. Like, we should die in that event. I feel like you got tougher than you gave me credit for, but I see where you're going.
00:30:21
Speaker
I was reading something that Bruce Lee said, because so many things are attributed to Bruce Lee, and it says that you shouldn't be self-deprecating, even in jest, because part of your body believes it, and it starts to weaken it. So you should talk up yourself instead of saying things like, oh, we're not strong. Which part's getting weaker?
00:30:44
Speaker
I think I probably kidney kidney. Yeah, I want kidney. So I've been trying really hard not to be so self-deprecating. So but personally didn't live very long. That's true. He died very young. Maybe he was self-deprecating about bullets. He was like, oh, I hope I don't get shot. Oh, you guys are going to shoot me one day. And then look at that motherfucker. I just think it's I think it might be interesting if if if you enter like negative juju into your psyche, maybe it maybe it isn't good.
00:31:15
Speaker
I mean, probably not. How much, how much Nyquil is this fucker on? Should we? A lot. Should we like really re-examine our lives and who we are as people? Right now. On a very special episode. Uh, nobody ever expected me to live this long. She recounted in 2008. I'd agree with that. Vulevic attributed her recovery to her Siberian stubbornness and a childhood diet that included chocolate, alcohol, spinach, fish oil, and Nyquil.
00:31:46
Speaker
One of this is not true. Yeah, who eats spinach? Popeye. Gross. On purpose, anyway. He eats it out of a can. In September 1972, her express willingness to resume working as a flight attendant, JAT, which is the company, felt that her presence on flights would attract too much publicity and instead gave her a desk job negotiating freight contracts.
00:32:16
Speaker
That's so boring. Well, yeah. And in the last years of her life... I'd have been like, hey fuckers, you didn't pay for my recovery. I went down because one of your dumb ass jets blew up. Not to sit at a desk. Not to sit at a fucking desk, yeah. You better let me fly the motherfucker. Do they see the world, man? Do you think they gave her an ergonomic chair, at least?
00:32:42
Speaker
No, it was definitely a really shitty chair. She had a pretty fucked up back, too. I know. Her spine was twisted. Well, it's just a little scoliosis, John. She'll be all right. I think it's more than a little. I think because I think what happened was her vertebrae got crushed and her spine got twisted. So like, you know, like normally if you think of a spine like a spine, now imagine that twisted. OK, yeah. Does that visual help? Yeah, that is a good one. I'm thinking back to, you know, my time as a biologist. All right.
00:33:12
Speaker
And when your head like on backwards after that and she looked down and saw her back. Mm hmm. She did. I mean, OK, I got it. I got nothing. I thought it was the end of the episode. No. All right. No. So she she lived on a pension of three hundred dollars a month at the end of her life in Belgrade and her little dilapidated Belgrade apartment. And she still thinks she got more anyway. Well, yeah, she should have fucking gotten a lot of money. But I think it was it was a
Reflections and Banter
00:33:41
Speaker
She had a bad lawyer. Too bad she didn't get upgraded to like a modest apartment, but it's gotta be dilapidated. It was a communist country and I don't think you got paid for that kind of stuff. I don't think you could sue for that kind of stuff. Do you think she got free cable at least?
00:33:56
Speaker
I don't think she did. She got like Skinemax. It was blurry. It was like when you watch it, when you didn't have it. She got TMC. That's what she got. But at that time they weren't classic movies. They were just what was on at the time.
00:34:14
Speaker
She later said I don't know what to say. She had a lifetime supply of airplanes. She said they gave her some VHS movies. They gave her airplane, a live North by Northwest. 747 Inferno. All the race stuff. Top gun.
00:34:40
Speaker
And, and, and 10 lessons, and 10 lessons to learn how to skydive. So yeah, obviously you don't know how infomercial and how it's kind of like, like, I think if I was a flight attendant, I would wear a parachute all the time.
00:34:58
Speaker
I don't think that's going to instill much confidence in the past. Well, fuck them. I like it. That's a good point. That is a good point. God. Why are you so anxious? It's just sometimes bothering me about this flight. What's that? Oh, I forgot to tell you.
00:35:19
Speaker
I tell you like six months. I fell out of an airplane, so Well Do you guys I never listened to them when they do the you know all the seatbelt and flotation of I never listened to that right they can save your life John But if they were all wearing parachutes, I'd fucking pay attention that actually I Mean like oh shit what this is important. What was that little part?
00:35:44
Speaker
Pardon me, where do I get a parachute? But in fairness, when the airplane is breaking into pieces, that oxygen mask that's dropping from the ceiling is not really gonna do that much.
00:35:56
Speaker
No, well, you know why they have that on the planes. Well, Fight Club said it was to get high. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that actually, if you actually research why they started putting those on planes, that actually is the reason. I'm not going to research that. I'm glad that, I'm glad the cushion doubles as a flotation device though. So when I fall 30,000 feet into the ocean that I'm able to get over Iowa, if we happen to fall into someone's pool, then I'll be able to float.
00:36:26
Speaker
There was a comedian, I think in the 90s. I don't remember who it was, my brother and I were watching. Was it Billy Connolly? I don't think it was, but maybe. I don't think so. That guy was funny. That guy, he's still funny. He's not dead. Okay, sorry. Sorry. Oddly enough though, he was on this flight. So he was on flight 367. So two people survived. Yeah. He actually was the bomb. That guy can say anything and it sounds funny. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:53
Speaker
He's a funny dude. So it was like this community he was talking about. He's like, I don't want something that floats in water. He's like, I want something that bounces out of cornfields. Yeah, seriously. So she later said, I don't know what to say when people say I was lucky. She remarked, life is so hard today.
00:37:11
Speaker
Volovic lamented that her mother and father might not have died prematurely had she not been aboard flight 367, stating that the incident not only ruined her life, but also those of her parents.
00:37:25
Speaker
Which I think is fair. That's a shitty attitude to come out of a fucking airplane crash. That actually is. Most people would be like, oh my god, life is so precious. I have a brand new perspective. Oh my god, my back hurts. I don't like to be. That gave me a desk job. I wanted to be back in the air. Yeah. You can play it about two degrees changes in the weather. Yeah, but we're talking about her right now. Yeah.
00:37:50
Speaker
You're wearing a beanie indoors because you have the flu. That's right. It's a little dramatic. So that's basically it. Point fingers at me, man. We're making fun of her. It's not like I survived a near-death experience.
00:38:09
Speaker
And I and so we're gonna raise a glass because that's it. That's that's it. That's just basically that's the way she died like, you know in 2016 and she died in she was she was like a big like social person. She was like very involved in the government stuff Here's Here's to wear your seat belt and and tuck in your head between your legs. I wonder if she did any flips on the way down. I
00:38:36
Speaker
John, what did we learn from this? Honest history defeated itself. I'm sorry. Right, right, right. You're right. I apologize. I forget about the part. What we've learned is that if you're on a plane with a bomb, you're just as fucked as they were in October 10th, 1933. All right, good. We have not figured out how to make bomb-proof jets yet.
00:39:01
Speaker
They are working on it though. They are actually working on materials that are light enough to put in a plane and strong enough to withstand a blast. But as they become stronger than the bombs become more lethal. You're such a negative, you're a negative Nancy Greg. I'm just trying to tell you that we're always gonna have issues. Fucking birds can take down airplanes. You think someone can't figure out a way out for a bomb too? Come on. What if you send out some bird drones?
00:39:31
Speaker
The real problem here is we got to get rid of the birds. So wait, are you saying the guys from Duck Dynasty are terrorists? Is that what you're saying? That was not what I was saying. Oh, okay. I misunderstood. I don't know. Thank you, everybody. Next week, our guest will be the guys from Duck Dynasty. Well, I bet you on the next recording, I'll have a fever. I believe you. All right, everybody. Good night. Good night.