Episode Overview

Podcast: Everything Everywhere Daily
Host: Gary Arndt
Episode Title: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
Date: September 10, 2025

In this episode, Gary Arndt recounts the extraordinary true story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, whose 1972 crash in the Andes Mountains led to a harrowing 72-day ordeal for its survivors. The episode details the accident, the survivors’ struggle against the elements, survival tactics, their ultimate rescue, and the moral, religious, and societal impact of their choices.

Main Themes and Purpose

• Survival Against Impossible Odds: The episode explores how a group of mostly young men faced starvation, freezing temperatures, avalanches, and difficult moral decisions in order to survive.
• Human Ethics and Morality: A detailed look at the survivors' struggle with cannibalism, and how cultural and religious interpretations shaped their decisions.
• Resilience and Teamwork: Examining the importance of cooperation, innovation, and leadership throughout their ordeal.
• Legacy and Remembrance: How the event has been memorialized, understood, and honored over the years.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Crash – Circumstances and Immediate Aftermath

[03:12-06:14]

• The Old Christians Rugby Club chartered a Fairchild FH-227D from Montevideo to Santiago, Chile.
• Due to poor weather and the plane's altitude limitations, the pilots navigated via an indirect route, relying heavily on instruments due to cloud cover.
• Navigation error: The co-pilot misreported their position, believing they had cleared the mountains, and received landing clearance while still over the Andes.
  • Quote: “The inability to visually see their location led to the co-pilot incorrectly identifying their location... despite still being over the Andes.” (04:54)
• The plane struck a ridge, lost its wings and tail, and the fuselage slid into a high valley—later called the Valley of Tears—at 11,500 feet.
• Initial survival: 12 killed in the crash; many others injured.

2. Search Efforts and Early Survival

[06:15-10:50]

• Search and Rescue operations (SARS) were quickly initiated but focused on the wrong area.
• Survivors attempted to signal aircraft with lipstick-written SOS and luggage crosses, but their signs were missed due to blending with the snow.
  • Quote: “...the remainder of the plane was white, and this caused the wreckage to blend in with the snowy mountainside...” (09:17)
• After eight days, official search efforts were called off.
• Survivors crafted rudimentary shelter and water collectors from plane materials, relying on minimal food supplies.

3. The Hardest Choice: Cannibalism

[10:51-16:20]

• With no vegetation or animals and food supplies gone, survivors reluctantly turned to eating the bodies of the deceased, preserved in the snow.
• Ethical and religious deliberations ensued. Catholic faith deeply influenced their debates.
  • Quote (Roberto Canessa): “Eating the bodies was a humiliating experience, but there was no other option.” (13:32)
  • They justified it, comparing it to communion: “...comparing the cannibalism to eating the body and blood of Christ in the form of bread and wine at communion.” (15:15)
• Most only ate the minimal amount necessary to survive.

4. Avalanche and Escalating Hardship

[16:21-20:57]

• Three weeks after the crash, an avalanche buried the survivors' shelter, killing eight more, including their leader and the last woman on the plane, Liliana Methol.
• Rescuers found ways to dig ventilation tunnels to avoid suffocation.
  • Quote: “Some survivors have cited this avalanche as the worst part of their 72 day experience, which is saying a lot considering they had to eat human flesh.” (19:00)
• Survivors used engineering ingenuity to make new shelters and continue fighting for survival.

5. The Trek to Rescue

[20:58-27:15]

• Survivors, believing they were in Chile and at a lower altitude, prepared for an expedition.
• After failed attempts to build a working radio from scavenged parts, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa set out across the mountains, equipped with improvised sleeping bags and rations.
• After a ten-day trek, they reached signs of civilization and finally encountered Chilean horsemen.
  • Quote: “They eventually stumbled across three men on horseback on the other side of a raging river. (...) Parrado said that they had come from a plane crash in the mountains, had been walking for 10 days, and had friends left on the mountain and needed the men to come get them.” (25:33)
• Local Chileans rode ten hours for help, leading eventually to a successful helicopter rescue.

6. Aftermath, Public Reaction, and Remembrance

[27:16-30:24]

• Of the original 45, only 16 survived.
• Initial denial of cannibalism to the public, but media reports quickly revealed the truth, prompting an emotional press conference.
• The Catholic Church, including Pope Paul VI, gave absolution and understanding.
  • Quote: “A priest cleared them of their actions and even Pope Paul VI sent the survivors a telegram indicating that their actions were acceptable given the circumstances.” (29:42)
• Memorialization through a mass grave, a black obelisk at the crash site (erected in 2006), and the Andes Museum in Montevideo (opened 2013).
• The crash site is now accessible for guided treks, with visitors urged to show respect.

Memorable Quotes

• On the moral dilemma of survival:
  “Eating the bodies was a humiliating experience, but there was no other option.”
  — Roberto Canessa, [13:32]
• On the missed rescue signals:
  “...the remainder of the plane was white, and this caused the wreckage to blend in with the snowy mountainside...”
  — Gary Arndt, [09:17]
• On the spiritual justification:
  “But others justified it by comparing the cannibalism to eating the body and blood of Christ in the form of bread and wine at communion.”
  — Gary Arndt, [15:15]
• On the post-rescue absolution:
  “A priest cleared them of their actions and even Pope Paul VI sent the survivors a telegram indicating that their actions were acceptable given the circumstances.”
  — Gary Arndt, [29:42]
• On the legacy of the event:
  “In the end, the story of Flight 571 endures as more than a lurid tale of cannibalism. It is a study in human resolve, cooperation and survival under overwhelming odds.”
  — Gary Arndt, [30:10]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:12] — Flight background and crash sequence
• [06:15] — Search efforts and failed rescue attempts
• [10:51] — Facing starvation and turning to cannibalism
• [16:21] — The deadly avalanche and its harrowing aftermath
• [20:58] — Preparations and the arduous trek for help
• [25:33] — First contact with rescuers
• [27:16] — Rescue, aftermath, and public ethics/religion response
• [29:42] — Public absolution and legacy

Conclusion

Gary Arndt delivers a respectful, comprehensive, and thought-provoking retelling of the events surrounding Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. His narrative highlights both the unimaginable difficulties faced by the survivors and the profound questions of faith and morality that defined their ordeal, ultimately framing the incident as a testament to the endurance of the human spirit.