Family Plane Crash: Ripping Through the Trees

Summary

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Real Survival Stories – "Family Plane Crash: Ripping Through the Trees"

Host: John Hopkins
Guests: Mark Godfrey & Andy Godfrey
Date: May 27, 2026
Podcast: NOISER

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Episode Overview

This episode of Real Survival Stories recounts the harrowing true account of Mark and Andy Godfrey, two young brothers who survived a horrific plane crash in the Colorado Rockies in March 1974. Stranded in a crushed fuselage, suffering from injuries and frostbite, they were forced to fight for their survival against blizzards, brutal cold, hunger, and the psychological trauma of loss. The episode explores their ordeal, immediate aftermath, and the lifelong process of healing.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Godfrey Family and the Fateful Flight

• The Godfreys, a close-knit family of seven from Houston, Texas, prepare for their annual Aspen skiing holiday.
• Friday, March 1, 1974: The family is full of anticipation, Andy describes being "extremely excited" (07:51) and memories of their father singing "Rocky Mountain High" as a lullaby (11:03).
• Their bank had recently acquired a Mitsubishi MU2—a private executive plane, making the trip especially thrilling for the children (11:54).
• Flight dynamics: Snacks, negotiations about the co-pilot seat, and an unsettling premonition ("I remember thinking something could happen to the plane..." – Mark, 13:52).

2. Atmosphere Turns Ominous

• As the plane enters the mountains, conditions deteriorate: turbulence, low clouds, and reduced visibility (05:45, 16:33).
• Mark notes a dramatic change: "Things got very, very serious very, very quickly" (05:45, 16:33).
• Their brother Billy makes a grim joke referencing the 1972 Andes rugby team crash, leading to uncharacteristically stern reprimands from their parents (17:35).

3. The Crash (Approx. 19:43–20:36)

• The plane's wing clips a tree, sending it into violent, uncontrolled descent. The crash is described in vivid, sensory detail:
  • "It was just the tearing sound of ripping through the trees..." – Andy (20:08)
  • "Just that moment where I black out." – Mark (19:56)
• Both boys are knocked unconscious. Their mother, Deneen, manages to briefly regain consciousness and gives Andy key survival instructions:
  • “She said, conserve the food, take care of your brother and don’t stray from the plane.” – Andy (23:07)

4. First Hours and Days of Survival

• Andy and Mark regain consciousness amid wreckage, injured, cold, and alone.
• Mark is pinned and drifts in and out of hallucinations (23:58); Andy, less injured, is able to move.
• Andy obeys their mother’s final advice; even when briefly venturing outside, the snow’s depth and fear drive him back inside (27:31).

Survival Tactics & Sibling Bond

• They share meager resources (snacks, Coke, even beer), rationing per their mother's instructions (29:10).
• Andy keeps Mark's spirits up as Mark battles despair and fatigue:
  • “You know, we're going to survive. Hang in there.” – Andy (30:48)
• They survive two nights and a blizzard, sealed in the fuselage as search parties comb the area in vain (30:16, 31:02).

Memorable Quote

• “That kind of strength, we all wonder if we have it. ...it's just a basic human survival mechanism that we're all born with.” – Andy (31:49)

5. Rescue and Hospitalization (32:32–39:14)

• On Monday morning, the weather clears. A search helicopter is finally directed to the crash site, thanks to a key witness—young skier Danny Schaefer—who had seen the crash (34:35).
  • "I stick my head out of the wreckage and there's the helicopter coming straight at us... it's over." – Andy (33:59)
• Mark and Andy are rescued and taken to hospital, initially separated due to differing injuries.
  • Mark endures months in the hospital, suffering the loss of his left foot and right leg due to frostbite and trauma (38:09). Andy is hospitalized for over a month and loses several toes (38:09).
• The survivors are confronted with the loss of four family members and struggle with shock and emotional numbness (37:21).
  • "To this day, I feel that the whole accident sort of numbed my feelings a little bit." – Andy (37:21)

6. Aftermath and Lifelong Impact

• Mark and Andy, along with their surviving young sister Paula, are taken in by their aunt and uncle in Aspen.
• Mark describes the heavy burden of being thrust into the eldest sibling role and the emotional isolation that followed:
  • "I felt very alone at that time. I felt like my structure had been exploded around me...” (39:59)
• Both ultimately become husbands and fathers, but the trauma remains ever-present. Andy only begins to "reconcile" and process the crash decades later during therapy (41:19).

7. Healing Through Storytelling and Advocacy

• Andy writes an article about the crash, which leads to the creation of a documentary.
• Both brothers find the documentary process cathartic; it opens doors for further healing, not just for themselves but for others through the Godfrey Foundation for Cinema Therapy (42:59).
• Notable quote from Mark, reflecting survivor wisdom:
  • "You don’t get over it, you just kind of get through it... you're in a storm right now, but the weather will clear." (43:43)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Mother’s last instructions:
  • "Conserve the food, take care of your brother and don’t stray from the plane." – Deneen Godfrey (23:07, spoken by Andy)
• On the moment of impact:
  • "It was just the tearing sound of ripping through the trees..." – Andy (20:08)
  • "I remember... that moment where I black out." – Mark (19:56)
• Survival mindset:
  • "I tried to keep him warm and give him what little food we had...we were just, you know, very thirsty and very hungry. So we were doing whatever we could to survive." – Andy (29:10)
• Rescue:
  • "I stick my head out... there's the helicopter coming straight at us... it's over." – Andy (33:59)
• Loss and change:
  • "I went from being the quiet middle child... to being the oldest in my family... I felt very alone at that time." – Mark (39:59)
• Healing:
  • "You don’t get over it, you just kind of get through it." – Mark (43:43)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:58–04:53: Opening scene, plane crash witnessed by skier Danny Schaefer
• 06:13–11:54: Godfrey family dynamics; anticipations for the trip
• 13:52–16:33: Mid-flight, anxiety begins, Billy’s Andes crash joke, storm worsening
• 19:43–20:36: The crash
• 22:32–27:31: Regaining consciousness, mother’s instructions, first efforts to survive
• 28:24–30:48: Coping through the night, Mark's decline, Andy’s care
• 32:32–33:59: The rescue
• 36:31–38:09: Hospitalization, coping with physical and emotional trauma
• 39:36–41:19: Rebuilding life, new roles, psychological ramifications
• 42:10–43:43: Documentary and foundation; wider impact and lessons learned

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Final Reflection & Takeaway

The Godfreys’ story is one of unimaginable loss, resilience, and the slow, difficult path to healing. The siblings’ perseverance, their mother’s calm clarity, and Andy’s resourcefulness underline the deep reservoirs of strength that people can draw upon in crises. Decades on, their advocacy work through storytelling and cinema therapy demonstrates the power of sharing trauma to foster recovery and help others. As Mark poignantly states:

“You don't get over it, you just kind of get through it... you're in a storm right now, but the weather will clear and things will get better.” (43:43)

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Transcript

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[Narrator]

It's just after 3pm on Saturday, March 2, 1974, in the Colorado Rockies, about 12 miles south of the town of Glenwood Springs, skiers carve through freshly groomed snow at the Sunlight Mountain ski area. Despite the promise of its name, Sunlight Mountain shivers today. Beneath dishwater gray clouds, the temperature hovers around freezing. A bitter wind rolls in, blowing fine, powdery spindrift across the slopes. Not that the weather has kept the visitors away. Schools have just broken up for spring break, and between dark ranks of spruce and aspen, hundreds weave their way downhill, squeezing in the last runs of the afternoon. Overhead chairlifts stretch across the slopes like power lines. Seated in one, their skis dangling over the edge, are nine year old Danny Schaefer and his older brother, David. As the chairlift clanks along, ferrying its passengers up the mountain, Danny gazes out over the tops of the evergreens. The shafers arrived from Denver earlier today for a weekend ski trip, and so far it's been a blast. As they near the end of the lift, Danny Danny hears something in the distance. A faint, high pitched whine. He squints across the valley, and there, barely visible against the white mountainside, rising behind it, is a tiny propeller plane. Immediately it's clear that something isn't right. The plane shudders in the air as if running on fumes. And what's it doing flying so close to the mountain? When the chairlift deposits them at the top of the run, Danny skis to a lookout spot and peers in the direction of the aircraft.

[Andy Godfrey]

He'd seen the plane while he was on the chairlift, so as he got off the chairlift, he quickly skied to a spot on the side of the run where he could have a better view of it.

[Narrator]

Danny watches as the aircraft turns suddenly, its left wing dropping low as it attempts to fly over a snowy, forested ridgeline. Then, as if in slow motion, the plane's wing appears to clip the top of a tree before it drops and vanishes behind the ridge in a cloud of smoke. Danny stares, his pulse quickening. Hoping he wasn't the only witness, he turns to his brother.

[Andy Godfrey]

Unfortunately, his brother was not looking at the time. So when he said, did you see that? He said, no, I didn't see anything.

[Narrator]

Later, when they rejoin their parents on the slopes, Danny tells his dad about what he saw. But he can't get him to take his story seriously.

[Andy Godfrey]

His dad questioned him and said, are you sure people down here saw that plane too? Maybe it just disappeared over the horizon. And so Danny began to doubt what he saw and he just sort of let it go.

[Narrator]

Meanwhile, less than a mile to the west, just below a secluded ridge, the wreckage of an aircraft lies smoldering in the trees. And inside the crumpled fuselage, half buried in debris, are two other brothers, aged 8 and 11. Their names are Mark and Andy Godfrey.

[Mark Godfrey]

I remember kind of the point of impact where you just hear sounds and noises and violent deceleration, a crash. Just that moment where I black out.

[Andy Godfrey]

It was just the tearing sound of ripping through the trees. And then I think we must have hit one final tree to come to rest. And that's when I was probably thrown forward and knocked unconscious.

[Narrator]

Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives. In this episode, we meet Mark and andy Godfrey. In March 1974. The two brothers, just 8 and 11 years old, are traveling with their mom, dad, brother and sister to Aspen, Colorado for the family's annual skiing holiday. The trip is one of the highlights of the year. And as their plane begins its descent over the snow covered Rocky Mountains, their excitement for the week ahead builds to fever pitch. When all of a sudden, the mood changes.

[Mark Godfrey]

It stopped being sunny and it started getting cloudy. It started getting a lot more turbulent. Things got very, very serious very, very quickly.

[Narrator]

With the aircraft rapidly losing altitude, the pilot appears to have made a critical miscalculation. And while he tries to correct his error, all the family on board can do is hold on tight as the plane struggles to avoid the mountains looming from the clouds.

[Andy Godfrey]

What I really remember is just looking out the left window right next to me and seeing the ground very closely and the trees and just being confused why we were so low. And the last thing I remember is my mother screaming, oh my God, we're going to crash.

[Narrator]

I'm John Hopkins from the Noiser Podcast Network. This is Real Survival Stories. It's the Evening of Friday, March 1, 1974 in a well to do suburb of Houston, Texas. Inside a large house on a quiet tree lined street, a family of seven is at home finishing dinner. Drop in on this family most evenings and you'll find a home bustling with noise and activity. But tonight the atmosphere is even livelier than usual because tomorrow the Godfreys leave for Aspen, the upscale ski resort in the mountains of Colorado. Once the dishes have been cleared away, 8 year old Andy scampers upstairs to his bedroom. Of all the Godfrey's, no one is more excited for the coming week. This is just the second year he's been old enough to go on the annual skiing trip and he can't wait.

[Andy Godfrey]

I had gone the year before at the age of, before that I would be left behind with my grandparents because I was just too young to go on the family trip. So I'd gone the year before. In 1973, probably my first time skiing, I was extremely excited to learn how to ski. So When March of 1974 rolled around, I was extremely excited again.

[Narrator]

Andy is the second youngest of five. The birth of his sister Paula 18 months ago means he's no longer the baby of the family. But there's still quite a gap between him and his eldest siblings, 15 year old Ellen and 14 year old Billy.

[Andy Godfrey]

My older brother Billy was, you know, I'd say he sort of ruled the roost. I was just the youngest brother of three and so I was intimidated by him. He was much bigger and stronger so you know, stay out of his room, those kind of things.

[Narrator]

Hurrying past Billy's off limits teenage sanctum, Andy pushes open the door of his own bedroom which he shares with another brother, 11 year old Mark.

[Andy Godfrey]

I'd say he was a little bit more quiet than I was, not as quite as outgoing. Part of that might be the dynamic of being a middle child where you're, you know, I don't know, not as expressive and I'm three and a half years younger than Mark, so for a while there I was the youngest of four, so I was pretty rambunctious and always getting into things.

[Mark Godfrey]

You might say that Mark is more like his mother and Andy's more like their father in some aspects of their personality. I think that we're, you know, a kind of a good yin and yang to each.

[Narrator]

For Mark, a shy middle child in a family of big personalities, it hasn't always been easy to figure out where he fits within that ecosystem. But lately things have started to fall into place.

[Mark Godfrey]

I was just kind of coming into my own, if you will, and understanding my place in the larger world. If you kind of think back to when you were 10 or 11, you start getting a better grasp of, of the world at large, if you will. And I remember kind of the better understanding where my place was.

[Narrator]

For all their differences, the Godfrey children share many things. The same fair hair, the same blue eyes and wide toothy smiles. They share an aptitude for sport, with Millie in particular showing a lot of promise on the football field. Their father William is an executive at a national bank. Mother Deneen is a homemaker who has her hands full with the five kids. In family portraits, the Godfrey's could be an advertisement for the American dream of health, wealth and happiness. And it's not just a surface impression. This really is a close knit unit. Later that Friday evening, Andy and Mark are tucked up in bed, too excited to sleep when their dad comes in to say goodnight.

[Andy Godfrey]

My dad was a guitar player and he was a big John Denver fan. So Mark and I remember the night before the accident he came into our room and played John Denver song Rocky Mountain High to kind of as a lullaby to put us to sleep. So to say we were just so excited to be leaving the next morning is a big under sleep.

[Mark Godfrey]

I've read studies that a person's imprint, if you will, their character, their personality is basically set in the first three years of their life. So you know, if you're swaddled in love and protection and happiness, I think that has a big impact on your, on your overall personality and your outlook in the world going forward.

[Narrator]

It's the following morning, the Godfrey's carry their bags across the tarmac over Houston airfield. The only member of the family missing is the toddler, Paula. She'll be staying behind with her grandparents. Up ahead, its red and orange fuselage gleaming in the Texas sun, is a small twin engine turboprop plane. Recently, the bank where William Godfrey works acquired this Mitsubishi MU2 aircraft for its executives to use at their leisure. In previous years, the family has always flown commercial. The upgrade to a private plane lends a distinct glamour to their departure. Young Andy can barely contain himself.

[Andy Godfrey]

I was so excited to get on that plane for Some reason I wanted to sit in the co pilot seat when we took off and my older brother Billy had already decided that he was going to be sitting there. So we had this little negotiation, which is very surprising because as I said before, I was totally intimidated by him.

[Narrator]

While the bags are loaded into the overhead compartments, Andy summons up the nerve to challenge his big brother.

[Andy Godfrey]

For some reason this day, I had the courage to say, I really want to sit there, Billy. So he said, fine, I'll sit in the co pilot seat when we take off and you can sit there when we land. And I was like, okay, deal. So I ended up going and sitting in the back left seat of the airplane and Mark was in the back right seat.

[Narrator]

Satisfied with his negotiating, Andy buckles in next to Mark at the back of the plane. A few moments later, the pilot sparks the engines. The propellers splutter into life and as they accelerate down the Runway, the fuselage rattling and shuddering, Mark shifts nervously in his seat. A shadow of unease passes over his face.

[Mark Godfrey]

I remember being on the plane, looking around the plane. I remember this memory very vividly and thinking something could happen to the plane and we're all together and that would not be good. And I remember putting that out of my brain and saying, well, that's not going to happen. Well, everything's going to be fine, Mark. Don't, don't worry about that.

[Narrator]

Soon they reach cruising altitude, the aircraft leveling just below the clouds. Mark glances around at the smiling, carefree faces of his family and manages at last to relax.

[Mark Godfrey]

There was a lot of, you know, energy, excitement. There were a lot of snacks on board, so we were, you know, eating whatever snacks were available. So it was a carefree atmosphere with kind of no, no worries or concerns.

[Narrator]

It's about three hours later. So far, the flight has been smooth and uneventful. The pilot has flown them over central Texas and the northwest corner of New Mexico before crossing into Colorado, pointing out sites of interest along the way. The weather has been clear, providing those on board with magnificent views of the landscape below. The topography shifting from wide open prairie land to high desert plains and finally to the snow flecked foothills of the Rockies. In the cockpits, the pilot reduces their speed and eases the controls into a gentle descent towards Aspen. A few minutes later, they enter a layer of dense, low hanging cloud. At this stage, heavy turbulence might cause some of the passengers to experience a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs. Realizing they must nearly be there, Andy unbuckles his seatbelt and makes his way unsteadily up the aisle. It's time for Billy to uphold his end of the bargain.

[Andy Godfrey]

I walked up to the front and I said, billy, we're almost at asthma. It's my turn to land, to sit there. And he said no. For whatever reason, maybe he was nervous because it was so bumpy and getting kind of scary. He said, go back to your seat. So I went back to my seat.

[Narrator]

Andy remonstrates under his breath. He skulks back to his seat and in his indignation forgets to refasten his seatbelt. On the other side of the aisle, Mark is staring out of the window. There's no view anymore. The landscape has been swallowed by a swirling mass of leaden cloud. It presses itself against the cabin window like it's trying to force its way inside.

[Mark Godfrey]

At some point it stopped being sunny and it started getting cloudy. At some point it started getting a lot more turbulent. And I do remember we were, I won't say final approach, but we knew we were near Aspen, that things got very, very serious very, very quickly.

[Narrator]

In the eerie twilight beyond the window, the propellers seem to labor against the frigid air. The wings seesaw. A strange clattering sound emanates from the cockpit as a blizzard of ice crystals pelts the windscreen. In the space of seconds, things have gone from light and cheery to subdued and fraught. Knuckles whiten around armrests. Billy calls back from the co pilot seat, a dark joke comparing the situation to a new story from a couple of years ago about the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes. His parents are quick to admonish him. The comet feels too close to the bone.

[Mark Godfrey]

It was the tone in my mother's voice, and then probably my father's voice too, that flipped a switch, hearing them reprimand our brother and telling him to be quiet in a tone that I'd probably never heard before.

[Narrator]

It's become clear by now that this is not just a spot of bad turbulence. Something has gone seriously wrong. As the pilot wrestles with the controls, William and Deneen do their best to reassure the children. Andy, meanwhile, turns his head to the side, his gaze fixed on the window.

[Andy Godfrey]

What I really remember is just looking out the left window right next to me and seeing the ground very closely and the trees and just being confused why we were so low.

[Narrator]

As they drop even lower, mountains loom through the clouds. Craggy peaks and frozen cliffs banded with black granite. Dark tracts of forest appear close enough to make out the individual boughs weighted down with snow. Mark Stares, terrified, unable to pull his eyes away.

[Mark Godfrey]

What I saw vividly is what looked to me like the ground rushing up to the plane. Obviously it was the other way around. The plane was falling very quickly to the ground. But I saw trees coming up at a very rapid pace up to the window.

[Narrator]

The plane banks sharply. Somewhere down below, alpine pistes weave through the trees. Skiers and hikers are enjoying themselves, making the most of the last decent snow of the season, unaware that Jack. Just beyond a ridge to the west, something terrible is unfolding in the frozen air.

[Mark Godfrey]

I heard the jet engines, the turboprop engines, whining at a very high pitch.

[Andy Godfrey]

And the last thing I remember is my mother screaming, oh my God, we're gonna crash.

[Narrator]

At approximately 3:30pm as the pilot tries to maneuver the aircraft over an alpine ridge, the slanting left wing shears the top of an 100 foot spruce tree, which is all it takes.

[Mark Godfrey]

I remember kind of the point of impact where you just hear sounds and noises and violent deceleration, a crash. Just that moment where I black out.

[Andy Godfrey]

It was just the tearing sound of ripping through the trees. And then I can remember the impact, sort of like a luge, you know, hitting the snow and sliding. And then I think we must have hit one final tree to come to rest. And that's when I was probably thrown forward and knocked unconscious.

[Narrator]

It is Saturday, March 2, 1974, a few miles south of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The mountains are bound tightly by deadening layer of snow and frost. Millions of spruce trees, twisted and bare, stand huddled against the landscape like shivering battalions, backs bent from countless harsh winters. Just one valley over, the lights of a bustling ski resort glow invitingly. But this side of the mountain remains obscured, shrouded in a crepuscular gloom. The silence is deafening, the stillness absolute. Earlier this afternoon, a sound threatened to disturb the quiet. A muffled whump accompanied by a shrill metallic rending that reverberated fleetingly in the thin alpine air before it was snuffed out, swallowed by the snow. But the source of the sound did leave a trace. Just below the crest of a tree lined ridge, something has gouged a ragged path through the pines, leaving a trail of broken branches and a scattering of loose debris. The path leads downhill about 100ft before arriving at a pile of hideously compacted metal, barely recognizable as the fuselage of an airplane. Wings sheared off, cockpit caved in, engine cowlings ripped asunder. The bodies of the pilot and the six passengers are still strapped into their seats, all except for 18 year old Andy Godfrey lies in a heap of shattered glass and mangled aluminium. He's unconscious, but breathing. And slowly, Andy's eyelids twitch. A jar.

[Andy Godfrey]

I wasn't sure, you know, if it was dawn or dusk, but I think we crashed around 3 o' clock on Saturday afternoon and so maybe I was unconscious for half an hour, an hour, I have no idea. But this is where it gets foggy because I think I was so concussed.

[Narrator]

It is in this state of shock that Andy hears a voice. His mother's. In the seconds before she slips away, Deneen Godfrey manages to pass on some crucial words of advice to her son.

[Andy Godfrey]

She literally gave me marching orders as she was passing away. She said, conserve the food, take care of your brother and don't stray from the plane.

[Narrator]

And he turns his head. There, about 5ft away from him, is 11 year old Mark, badly hurt, clearly stunned, but alive.

[Andy Godfrey]

He was really shaken up and maybe had a little bit of blood on him and stuff, so that was a very scary memory. But it also must have been comforting too, to see that I wasn't alone. There was someone else with me.

[Narrator]

While his brother crawls through the wreckage towards him, Mark drifts in and out of consciousness. His injuries are more severe than Andy's. His legs are pinned under the seat in front which was shoved into him as the plane concertinaed.

[Mark Godfrey]

I remember having hallucinations for a long time. I used to think of them dreams. But now as I get older, I realize I was hallucinating vividly. I thought I was anywhere but where I was. I thought I was in the bathroom of our house in Houston. I thought I was in other places.

[Narrator]

Gradually, Mark's delirium wears off. But being lucid doesn't make any of this easier to process. It still seems like a nightmare, one that he might yet wake up from.

[Mark Godfrey]

I would have been so disoriented that it would have taken me a long time to kind of grasp what had happened. And then the grasping of what had, what had happened was completely overwhelming and I think almost too much to process. Andy had been knocked out less and he was maybe moving around a little bit more. And I think us talking and us, you know, confirming for each other, if you will, what had happened helps introduce some level of reality into the situation because you're able to talk to somebody about it.

[Narrator]

But sometimes words fail. At 8 years old, Andy is only in the second grade. Mark has just started middle school. Less than 24 hours ago, they were being tucked in, having a lullaby sung to them and now here they are in the cold and the dark, with everything they know, upended, paralyzed by fear. It's only natural that they grasp for familiarity. And so, as night falls around them, the brothers do what they've always done. When the sun goes down, they close their eyes and eventually drift off to sleep. It's morning. The sky above the wreckage is appalling of white. A few miles away in Glenwood Springs, skiers anxiously await weather updates as major blizzard warnings threaten the closure of certain runs. Inside the fuselage, a gray translucence leaks through the cracks in the ruptured metal. Andy and Mark, their woolen jumpers stiff with frost, open their eyes to the daylight and peer around.

[Mark Godfrey]

Andy and I slowly became aware of our surroundings. Our mother was trapped, I think, very close to me, if not, you know, partly on top of me with broken skis and broken plane parts and things like that. So that is a tough memory to have. I don't think we had identified any other family members in the general vicinity of us that I can recall.

[Narrator]

Everything is a crumpled mess, sharp, metallic, angular. Mark can't free his legs from whatever's trapping them, and if he moves his head, it scrapes the bottom of the collapsed roof. He is stuck, entombed in debris. For Andy, who wasn't buckled in when the plane crashed, he is able to move around a bit more. At one stage, she even leaves the fuselage, clambering through a jagged hole in the side of the plane and emerging into a snowy wasteland enclosed by towering evergreens.

[Andy Godfrey]

I do remember stepping outside the airplane just to sort of see if I could walk away or something. And the snow was so deep that scared me, so I hopped right back in.

[Narrator]

As soon as Andy steps outside, his mother's instructions come back to him.

[Andy Godfrey]

I'm sure her words were sort of echoing, you know, don't leave the airplane and conserve the food and take care of your brother.

[Narrator]

Andy pulls himself back inside the fuselage, kicking the snow from his shoes. The urge to run off and find help might be strong, but that's exactly what he was instructed not to do. Besides, he can't abandon his brother. Mark's blonde hair is matted with blood. His head droops forward onto his chest, and his body is wracked with deep, violent shivers.

[Mark Godfrey]

I think because of some of the memories, you know, Andy has about being instructed by our mother gave him some direction, if you will. And he also realized that I was not in good shape and seemed to be fading, that he had to, in effect, kind of take on that older Brother role and be the cheerleader for the group and try and encourage me, you know, to hold on.

[Narrator]

As Sunday wears on, it starts to seem like Mark could be slipping. And he does what he can. He cuddles Mark to keep him warm. He digs through the debris and retrieves some of the snacks they'd been enjoying on the flight. When Mark gasps for water Andy tries to provide for him.

[Andy Godfrey]

He was getting weaker and weaker. Is, is the feeling I had during all that day on Sunday. You know, I, I tried to keep him warm and give him what little food we had. We had peanuts and maybe chips and can of Coke. I think we drank a beer. We were just, you know, very thirsty and very hungry. So we were doing whatever we could to survive.

[Narrator]

At some point, the sky darkens. Freezing wind howls through the fuselage, stinging the boys faces. They hunker down, arms wrapped around each other as the world beyond the plane's hollow shell becomes a swirl of impenetrable. The blizzard lasts for hours. Pretty soon the wreckage is barely visible under the deep deposits. For Mark and Andy, trapped inside, there's a sense of being buried alive. Later that day, a distant sound filters through the snow.

[Andy Godfrey]

We can remember hearing the sound of the planes overhead looking for us, but the visibility of so poor they couldn't spot us. And really we were a needle in a haystack. So whatever parts of the plane that were exposed before the snowstorm, think about it, they just got covered up.

[Narrator]

For Andy and Mark, evidence that people are looking for them brings little comfort. These search planes seem to inhabit a different universe from the nightmarish world inside the fuselage. Mark in particular seems to be losing hope.

[Andy Godfrey]

I remember him getting depressed and negative and saying, you know, I don't think we're going to survive. You know, I don't know if I was always this positive, but I said, you know, we're going to survive. Hang in there.

[Narrator]

Soon enough, night falls for the second time.

[Mark Godfrey]

The first night was one thing, but to have to go through that 24 hours later was probably kind of the, the low for us.

[Narrator]

The sound of the search planes fades to silence. Once again, Mark and Andy are left with nothing but the sound of their own shivering breaths. The temperature already at freezing plummets. The fresh snow that has fallen onto the crash site hardens like setting cement, sealing the fuselage in a thick, icy carapace. The cold leeches into their bones, slowly freezing the tissue, cutting off the blood to their toes and fingers. Frostbite is killing them from the inside out. And yet they still manage to stave

[Andy Godfrey]

off despair, that kind of strength, we all wonder if we have it. And I don't think you ever get the answer to that question until you're put into the situation. But I think we all have it when we really need to. It's just a basic human survival mechanism that we're all born with. That put in the worst situation, we will perform at our best.

[Narrator]

The hours pile up. The night deepening. At some stage, the brothers shut their eyes and managed to fall asleep once more.

[Andy Godfrey]

The next morning, waking up, it was a, a beautiful day. So that probably added some optimism that they're going to find us today. The weather's beautiful.

[Narrator]

It's Monday morning. A shaft of sunlight flares at the torn edge of the half buried fuselage, piercing the gloomy interior. Reaching out an arm, Andy can feel the sun warming his frozen skin. He eats a handful of snow to quench his raging thirst. While Andy is up and moving, Mark's eyes are still closed. His skin is ghostly pale. The effort of staying alive is becoming intolerable. But then his senses prick.

[Mark Godfrey]

All of a sudden we just started hearing, hearing a noise. I think maybe we had heard some planes go by earlier, certainly during some of the storm. I can vaguely recall hearing planes fly over us but we couldn't see them, they couldn't see us. So it wasn't like this was the first sound that we heard for the last three days. But it got louder.

[Narrator]

This isn't like the search planes from yesterday. Soon the distant rumble grows to a deafening steady roar. Andy scrambles to the opening.

[Andy Godfrey]

I stick my head out of the wreckage and there's the helicopter coming straight at us. And it just, I start signaling with my hand and you know, we're rescued. And that is a feeling I guess very, very few people get to experience the feeling of just unbelievable gratefulness and joy of being out of the ordeal. It's just that it's over.

[Narrator]

Monday, March 4th was a morning of firsts for Danny Schaefer. The nine year old had never ridden in a helicopter before, let alone on a rescue mission, one in which he was the key witness. But as novel as the experience was, his excitement didn't last long. The ground looked very different from the cockpit and he quickly became disoriented, unable to pinpoint where he'd seen what he'd seen. Two days earlier. On Saturday afternoon, Danny had been skiing on Sunlight Mountain when he'd spotted a plane clip a tree on a distant ridgeline and disappear in a puff of smoke. After failing to convince his dad to take his story seriously. He had done his best to push the incident to the back of his mind, but it nagged his conscience. The next day, when he heard the search planes buzzing across the valley, Danny's father realized his mistake. The boy had been telling the truth. He contacted local police, who promptly enlisted Danny's help in the search for the crash site. After failing to get his bearings in the helicopter, the mountain rescue team drove Danny in a snowcat to the place where he'd originally seen the plane go down. Moments later, a helicopter was making a beeline for the precise spot on the horizon where Danny was pointing. By the time Andy Godfrey stuck his head out of the fuselage and gazed up into the pulsing roar of rotor blades, word was already crackling through a dozen radios. Crash site located. And then, moments later, another communication went out. Two survivors found. It's several hours later, Mark Godfrey blinks up into the bright lights of an emergency room.

[Mark Godfrey]

All of a sudden, there are a bunch of people surrounding me. There are people asking me questions. How old am I? What's my name? Where do I live? What grade am I in? Do you know where you are now? They weren't answering questions that I was asking them, like, where's my mom and dad? Where's my brother and sister? So then I slowly started realizing, you know, that what Andy and I maybe thought was a hallucination was actually something in real life.

[Narrator]

Due to the different severity levels of their injuries, the brothers are now separated. Mark, wheeled into intensive care, will be put on life support while Andy receives treatment for his frostbitten feet. That evening, as he lies swaddled in bandages, Andy learns the fate of his mum, dad, brother and sister.

[Andy Godfrey]

I didn't have a big reaction, and maybe I was still kind of in shock or. Or whatever, But I remember learning later that the reporter said, well, he obviously doesn't realize what's happened, you know, otherwise he would be reacting differently. And, you know, to this day, I feel that the whole accident sort of numbed my feelings a little bit. And it seems like I cry at different times now that, you know, don't cry and things that are really, really sad. And I do cry in things that maybe aren't sad. So maybe something changed in me then. But that's definitely how it went down that first night.

[Narrator]

Andy will stay in hospital for a month, eventually losing several toes to frostbite. Mark's journey to recovery is much longer and more complex. He will spend three months in hospital as the medics work to stave off the spread of infection. Ultimately, doctors will have no choice but to amputate. He will lose his left foot and his right leg 2 inches below the knee. During his long stay in hospital. Drifting in and out of a medication induced haze, Mark slowly comes to terms with the crushing hand he has been dealt with.

[Mark Godfrey]

God had thrown me two, you know, very, very big curveballs. One was the loss of my family, and then secondly, you know, the more time I spent in the hospital, the more I realized how much my life was going to be completely different than what my prior life had been. So not only had I lost my parents, but now I was going to be leaving the hospital as a severely disabled 11 year old boy in a wheelchair.

[Narrator]

After leaving the hospital, Mark and Andy are taken in by their aunt and uncle, the Schumachers, who live in Aspen. Soon little Paula, who has been staying with their grandparents back in Houston, comes to join them. And so, orphaned and uprooted, the surviving Godfrey children must embark on the next chapter of their lives.

[Andy Godfrey]

I mean, it was just sort of moving on. We did not get to go back to Houston and see any of our old friends or my grandparents were still in Houston and we just immediately sort of transitioned into the shoemaker house and, you know, started making new friends, kind of moving on to the best of our ability.

[Mark Godfrey]

I went from being the quiet middle child who's just navigating the family dynamic now, to being the oldest in my family and having my grandparents kind of whisper in my ear things like, you need to be the head of your family now, Mark. You need to be in charge now, Mark. You need to be the carrier of the family history and the family culture. I felt very alone at that time. I felt like my structure had been exploded around me, if you will. I still had both my maternal and paternal grandparents and I was going to be living with my aunt and uncle who I knew, but, you know, quite frankly, didn't know all that well. And so I kind of pulled inside of myself at that time quite a bit. I started, I think, building walls of protection around me.

[Narrator]

Andy and Mark grow into healthy, fulfilled adults. They become husbands and fathers. But the plane crash doesn't go away. More than three decades after the accident, Andy is talking to a therapist about something unrelated to the crash. When he casually mentions the thing that he is effectively disassociated from for all these years.

[Andy Godfrey]

He sort of just said, you know, tell me about your life. And. And I said, I had this idyllic life in Houston, and then I was in this plane crash and we moved to Aspen. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Tell me more about the plane crash.

[Narrator]

It's a watershed moment. Speaking about it in detail for the first time in decades, it prompts him to go one step further. Andy decides to write an article for the Aspen Times Weekly recounting the events of March 1974. He titles the article Reconciling the plane crash. As well as being a therapeutic process, writing it sets off a chain reaction of fortuitous events. A childhood friend of Mark's, John Breen, has contacts in the world of documentary film. And the article sparks an idea.

[Mark Godfrey]

I think John started thinking, well, I have a story that I think is pretty incredible. I wonder if that could be potential subject for a documentary. And so I think after Andy's article came out, Andy and John started talking and then they approached me about maybe making a documentary.

[Narrator]

Mark is hesitant at first, but in the end he agrees to take part in the documentary.

[Andy Godfrey]

It's not something Mark and I were trying to do, but you know, inadvertently, the process of making our film helped both Mark and I heal, especially Mark. He really was able to open up, talk about how the accident affected him and how he grew through this process of making a film and sharing the story.

[Narrator]

The film's impact continues to grow in myriad unexpected ways. It catches the attention of a world renowned psychiatrist who contacts the brothers and suggests they establish a foundation to help other survivors process trauma through the act of making short films. Soon the Godfrey foundation for Cinema Therapy is born and it's still actively helping people today. As stated on the website, the foundation dedicates its work to the memory of those members of the Godfrey family who died so tragically. William, Deneen, Ellen and Billy. Looking back on the making of the documentary, Mark recalls many cathartic moments, but one stands out.

[Mark Godfrey]

We walked up to the crash site with one of the rescuers and that was such a powerful moment with him. He said something along the lines of, you don't get over it, you just kind of get through it. And I think that's very accurate. And again, you know, it took Andy and I decades to kind of get through it. So I find myself counseling other people that are going through rough times. You're in a storm right now, but the weather will clear and things will get better. But you just got to, you got to grind it out and you got to just live each day at a time, but just recognize that you're in a storm right now and, you know, kind of lean on your faith and no one knows what's going to happen. But you'll slowly get through it and. And life goes on.

[Narrator]

Next time, we meet saturation diver Richard Bradley. In 2011, Richard is 130ft underwater in the Northwest Shelf, Australia's largest area of oceanic or oil and gas extraction. He's performing some routine cleaning when he feels a sudden pain in his left forearm.

[Andy Godfrey]

It was what I imagined being shot would be like.

[Narrator]

I took the full blast off from

[Andy Godfrey]

the nozzle at point blank into my forearm.

[Narrator]

The ultra high pressure water blaster he's using has malfunctioned, sending a jet of dirty water into a deep puncture in his arm. He is now seriously wounded, but he can't simply swim to the surface. His blood and body tissue are saturated with high pressure helium. What he does next will be crucial as he follows a complex high risk procedure. Every step must go perfectly if he is to have any hope of getting out of this alive. That's next time on Real Survival Stories. Listen right now without waiting and without ads, by joining noiserplus.