The Brazilian Antonio Sena has been a plane pilot since 2011. He has completed more than 2,400 accumulated flight hours in Brazil, but also abroad, notably in Chad, where he has agreed to refuel illegal mines. On January 28, 2021, he left to refuel a garimpo, a gold digger encampment in the Amazon, at the controls of a Cessna 210, a single engine. That day is the crash. The engine stops above this green hell that is the Amazon rainforest. He manages to crash it as calmly as possible because he knows certain techniques, in particular that of the glider. He tells in a book, Stay alive until the end (XO Documents editions), its 36 days in survival mode.
franceinfo: When you crash in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, in January 2021, your plane is totally pulverized and you come out with a few scratches. What are your first thoughts when you open your eyes?
Antonio Sena: I’m alive ! I’m alive ! Because despite everything, I didn’t know how I was going to get out of it. I did have a few scratches, it hurt a bit here and there, but it was a miracle. I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it all, because the situation was still very dangerous and I had a lot of things to do.
When you open your eyes, the plane is on fire. You collect a rope, bottles of water, elements which will be able to allow you to live in this environment which is hostile, extremely dense. In the middle of the Amazon rainforest, there are a lot of extremely dangerous animals with which you will live: jaguars, caimans, anacondas, spiders. You knew one thing in these rules of survival is that you look for a pilot between five and eight days. In your mind: your family. Is she the one who kept you alive?
Certainly. At home, it was always like that. Our family was not rich and we had to struggle to be successful, to be able to form ourselves. And when I decided to become a pilot, they sold a little piece of land that the three of us had and we paid for the flying lessons with that sale.
“My love for my family was the fuel I used to get through this. I was like, my God, let me see my family again.”
Antonio Senato franceinfo
After 36 days alone in the world, you hear the sound of a chainsaw. There, you say to yourself: “There it is, there is life somewhere, I’m going to get out of it”. You then walked nearly 28 kilometers. Your saviors are nut pickers. I would like you to tell us about the moment you reunite with your brother and sister. The photo you embrace has been around the world.
The context of this photo must be explained. I lived this story in the forest and they lived another story, totally different, outside. I know my difficulties and the difficulties that I have had, but I cannot imagine theirs, outside. People tell me: “You are a hero” and I say no, the heroes are my brother and my sister because they are so resilient and have held hope for so long. They did not let me down when I had disappeared in the largest forest in the world.
Everyone said: we must accept that he is lost. They never accepted. When we confirmed over the radio that it was me, I could sense their emotion. It was very present. And this photo, this meeting, I told them only: I did this for you …. Sorry, but I am moved.
This story, this human adventure has changed your life.
This experience has changed the way I see the world.