Former Model Recalls Her ‘Miraculous’ Helicopter Crash Survival Story

Published: May 6, 2025

By Mallory Mattingly

In 1994, Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Christie Brinkley survived a near-fatal helicopter crash while on a skiing tour in Colorado, something she calls “miraculous.”

“I think that this world is full of magic and miracles,” the former model told Fox News Digital, explaining that she was carrying dirt from Chimayo, New Mexico, on the flight.

“I went to the Santuario de Chimayo, north of Sante Fe, and fell in love with the hope and miracles emanating from that tiny sanctuary tucked into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, where the Pueblo Indians believe the golden soil inside can protect anyone who touches it,” she wrote in her new memoir, Uptown Girl.

The sanctuary is a Roman Catholic chapel, built in 1816, which is considered the most important Catholic pilgrimage location in the US, according to Fox News.

Brinkley said she had “a bad feeling” before she boarded the helicopter, so she sprinkled some of the dirt from Chimayo on the helicopter.

“I said, ‘Oh magic dirt, do your stuff, take good care of all of us on this helicopter this day,’” she recalled. “I should have said, ‘Also, keep the helicopter in the air.’ But I do believe in miracles. Maybe it was a miracle of Chimayo. Maybe it was pure luck. During the crash, there were a lot of sections where it could have ended it. But we kept escaping each step. It was a pretty miraculous survival story.”

According to PEOPLE, the helicopter hit the side of the mountain, which ripped the chopper in two.

“The crash was sudden and traumatic, coming out of nowhere,” she wrote in her book. “We had already taken two runs and were circling to land for a third, on the saddle of a faraway peak, when the helicopter just fell from the sky, plunging into a freefall from three hundred feet overhead, with no autorotation.

“Suddenly, it became crystal clear that the only thing that really mattered in life and at death was the same: love,” Brinkley continued. “I focused on [my daughter] Alexa Ray, holding her pure in my thoughts and hoping to project all my heart and soul to her so she would feel it at the very moment of impact.”

April 1, 2024, marked the 30th anniversary of the crash. For the 25th anniversary, Brinkley shared on her Instagram, “This happened 25 years ago today and not a day goes by that I have not counted my blessings for being alive. I know for a fact that tomorrow is not a guarantee and that each day is a gift and an opportunity to make sure that everybody we love knows it!”