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Real Survival Stories

Family Plane Crash: Ripping Through the Trees

Real Survival Stories

NOISER

History, Society & Culture, Wilderness, Sports, Documentary

4.81.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In March 1974 the Godfreys are travelling to Aspen, Colorado for their annual skiing holiday. Brothers Andy and Mark, aged eight and eleven, are buzzing. But as their plane begins its descent over the snow-covered Rockies, the mood suddenly changes. The pilot appears to have made a critical miscalculation. All the family on board can do is hold on tight and pray… A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Joe Viner | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound Supervisor: Matt Peaty | Sound design by Jacob Booth | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. For more on this story, see the documentary film '3 Days 2 Nights'. For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at support@noiser.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:36.9

It's just after 3pm on Saturday, March the 2nd, 1974.

0:38.2

In the Colorado Rockies, about 12 miles south of the town of Glenwood Springs,

0:42.9

skiers carved through freshly groomed snow

0:45.9

of the Sunlight Mountain ski area.

0:49.7

Despite the promise of its name,

0:51.3

sunlight mountain shivers today beneath dishwater grey clouds.

0:56.0

The temperature hovers around freezing.

0:58.0

A bitter wind rolls in, blowing fine, powdery spin drift across the slopes.

1:04.0

Not that the weather has kept the visitors away.

1:07.0

Schools have just broken up for spring break, and between dark ranks of spruce and Aspen,

1:12.6

hundreds weave their way downhill, squeezing in the last runs of the afternoon.

1:18.6

Overhead, chair lifts stretch across the slopes, like power lines.

1:23.6

Seated in one, their skis dangling over the edge are nine-year-old Danny Schaefer and his older brother David.

1:31.3

As the chairlift clanks along, ferrying its passengers up the mountain, Danny gazes out over the tops of the Evergreens.

1:39.3

The Schaefer's arrived from Denver early today for a weekend ski trip, and so far it's been a blast.

1:46.7

As they near the end of the lift, Danny hears something at the distance.

...

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