page_title: Vesna Vulović
section_title: Fame
hierarchical_section_title: Vesna Vulović / Fame
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Srbská Kamenice, okres Děčín, Česká republika. Pomník obětem letecké tragédie jugoslávského letadla z roku 1972. Text: "Dne 26. ledna 1972 tragicky skončil let letadla DC-9 společnosti JAT na lince Kodaň-Záhřeb. V upomínku obětem a jako projev vděčnosti obyvatelům Srbské Kamenice a České Kamenice, jejichž hluboké lidství nás trvale sblížilo. Jugoslovenski aerotransport." English: Srbská Kamenice in Děčín District, Czech Republic. Monument to victims of the Yugoslav aircraft tragedy of 1972. Camera location50°&#160;48′&#160;41.01″&#160;N, 14°&#160;20′&#160;12.61″&#160;E&#160;View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap - Google Earth
context_page_description: Vesna Vulović was a Serbian flight attendant who holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 m. She was the sole survivor after a briefcase bomb tore through the baggage compartment of JAT Flight 367 on 26 January 1972, causing it to crash near Srbská Kamenice, Czechoslovakia. The Yugoslav authorities suspected that Croatian nationalists were to blame, but no one was ever arrested.
  Following the bombing, Vulović spent days in a coma and was hospitalized for several months. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, broken legs, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis. These injuries resulted in her being temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. She made an almost complete recovery but continued to walk with a limp. Vulović had no memory of the incident and had no qualms about flying in the aftermath of the crash. Despite her willingness to resume work as a flight attendant, Jat Airways gave her a desk job negotiating freight contracts, feeling her presence on flights would attract too much publicity. Vulović became a celebrity in Yugoslavia and was deemed a national hero.
context_section_description: In September 1972 Vulović expressed willingness to resume working as a flight attendant. The airline felt that her presence on flights would attract too much publicity and instead gave her a desk job negotiating freight contracts. In Yugoslavia, Vulović was celebrated as a national hero. Her reputation as a "Cold War heroine" also extended to the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. After the crash, Vulović received a decoration from the President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, and the Serbian folk singer Miroslav Ilić recorded a song titled Vesna stjuardesa ("Vesna the Stewardess"). She was soon made an honorary citizen of Srbská Kamenice. Honke's granddaughter, born six weeks after Vulović's fall, was named Vesna in her honour. Vulović continued to fly regularly, stating that other passengers were surprised to see her on flights and wanted to sit next to her.
  Vulović's parents both died within a few years of her fall. In 1977, she married mechanical engineer Nikola Breka after a year of dating. Although she was advised by physicians that her injuries would not have an adverse effect on her reproductive function, Vulović experienced an ectopic pregnancy that nearly proved fatal and was never able to have children. In 1985, The Guinness Book of World Records recognized her as the world record holder for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 metres (33,330 ft; 6.31 mi). She received the recognition at a London gala from musician Paul McCartney. Vulović was thus officially acknowledged as having surpassed the records of other fall survivors, such as Alan Magee, Nicholas Alkemade, and Ivan Chisov.
  In the early 1990s Vulović and her husband divorced. Vulović attributed the divorce to her chain smoking, which her husband disapproved of. Around the same time, Vulović was fired from JAT for speaking out against Serbian statesman Slobodan Milošević and taking part in anti-government protests. She avoided arrest because the government was concerned about the negative publicity that her imprisonment would bring. In response to her activism, pro-Milošević tabloids launched a smear campaign against her, claiming that Flight 367 had been shot down by a Czechoslovak surface-to-air missile and that she had fallen from a lesser height than previously believed. Vulović continued taking part in anti-government demonstrations throughout the 1990s. When Milošević and his Socialist Party of Serbia were ousted in the Bulldozer Revolution of October 2000, Vulović was among several celebrities who took to the balcony of Belgrade's city hall to make victory addresses. She later campaigned on behalf of the Democratic Party and advocated for Serbia's entry into the European Union, which she believed would bring economic prosperity.
caption: Monument in Srbská Kamenice memorializing the crash
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