iPhone survives fall from Alaska Airlines midair blowout

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited January 8

An iPhone that was sucked out of the Alaska Airline flight ASA1282 has been found undamaged after a fall of 16,000 feet.

The recovered iPhone was open at an Alaska Airline's baggage claim
The recovered iPhone was open at an Alaska Airline's baggage claim
In mid-2020

, an iPhone that fell 1,000 feet from a light aircraft had a damaged screen protector.

But now a completely undamaged iPhone has been found after being sucked out of the Alaska Airline's Boeing 737 Max 9 flight which lost an entire door shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon.

Found an iPhone on the side of the road... Still in airplane mode with half a battery and open to a baggage claim for #AlaskaAirlines ASA1282 Survived a 16,000 foot drop perfectly in tact!

When I called it in, Zoe at @NTSB said it was the SECOND phone to be found. No door yet pic.twitter.com/CObMikpuFd

-- Seanathan Bates (@SeanSafyre)



It was found by Seanathan Bates, who reports that the iPhone was in airplane mode, had around 50% battery charge, and was opened to an Alaska Airline's baggage claim. He goes on to say that part of a charger was plugged into the phone, broken off when the iPhone "got 'yanked' out the door."

Bates reported the missing phone to the National Transportation Safety Board, and says a representative from the NTSB told him this was the second phone to be recovered after the accident.

The iPhone survived a fall of around 16,000 feet, but it did have a hard protective case. In late 2020, a skydiver dropped his iPhone from 14,000 feet and it survived, also with an apparently rugged case.

Separately, a door plug from the flight was also found. While the incident is still being investigated, a window and section of fuselage was blown out of the flight on January 5, 2023.

As a result, the FAA grounded 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes.




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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    ForumPostForumPost Posts: 68member
    No password, great. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 9
    tophatnosockstophatnosocks Posts: 26member
    The only thing we really wanted was the brand of case?
    mike1chiawatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 9
    dominikhoffmanndominikhoffmann Posts: 73member
    My guess is that because of the small size and the flatness the iPhone dropped more like a leaf than a rock. Tree or brush branches may have decelerated the fall enough to keep it undamaged.

    My real question is: how was this found, when it was in airplane mode and would not have responded to Find My searches?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 9
    gumashowgumashow Posts: 70member
    dominikhoffmann said:
    My guess is that because of the small size and the flatness the iPhone dropped more like a leaf than a rock. Tree or brush branches may have decelerated the fall enough to keep it undamaged.

    My real question is: how was this found, when it was in airplane mode and would not have responded to Find My searches?
    Read the article 
    watto_cobrachasm
  • Reply 5 of 9
    DasPikeDasPike Posts: 5member
    tophatnosocks said:
    The only thing we really wanted was the brand of case?
    Free advertising right there.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 9
    rsantanarsantana Posts: 15member
    I bet is a Tech21 case…
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 9
    mknelsonmknelson Posts: 1,127member
    ForumPost said:
    No password, great. 
    It might have a password, but automatic screen lock disabled.

    I'm wondering if it went into SOS mode because of crash or fall detection when it hit the ground.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 9
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,322member
    dominikhoffmann said:
    My guess is that because of the small size and the flatness the iPhone dropped more like a leaf than a rock. Tree or brush branches may have decelerated the fall enough to keep it undamaged.

    My real question is: how was this found, when it was in airplane mode and would not have responded to Find My searches?
    Yes, I'm guessing like a wing with the camera bump acting drag/tail to keep it pointing one direction, so it had enough of a bounce when it hit the ground effect air layer to slow it down. Now if that is the case exactly how high does it need to drop from for the speed wing to kick in? 


    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 9
    bob nycbob nyc Posts: 7member
    The only thing we really wanted was the brand of case?

    Yes! What is the brand of the case?

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