I was the sole survivor of a plane crash
In 1979, a small plane carrying 11-year-old Norman Ollestad and three others crashed into a mountainside in California. Norman had to make his way down the mountain alone.
When a plane carrying 11-year-old Norman Ollestad, his father and his father’s girlfriend got caught in a snowstorm and crashed into the remote California mountains in 1979, Norman was the only survivor. In a harrowing tale of survival, Norman describes how, stranded on the edge of a cliff, he relied on the skills his father had taught him throughout his childhood to make it down the treacherous mountain to safety. 27 years later Norman decided to return to the crash site and while there, made an extraordinary discovery.
Norman Ollestad’s memoir is called Crazy For the Storm. His latest work is a short story called Formentera about the fraying relationship of a married couple.
The archive you heard comes courtesy of CBS.
Presenter and producer: Mariana Des Forges
Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com
Podcast
-
![]()
The Outlook Podcast Archive
True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives
