iPhone survives landing after pilot takes Airplane mode way too seriously

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited November 2021
A pilot in Orlando dropped his iPhone on takeoff, but Find My lead searchers right back to it -- and there wasn't even a scratch on the phone.

iPhone
iPhone


Orlando Executive Airport in central Florida is chiefly used for smaller aircraft like business jets, rather than commercial airlines. This pilot was flying a twin-engine light aircraft, when he dropped his iPhone onto the runway during takeoff.

A YouTube video has the subsequent exchange between the airport's main air traffic control (ATC) and an aircraft controller identified as Ops2, who reports what the pilot has done.

Orlando ATC laughs at the news, but asks where exactly it was dropped.

"He looked on his satellite and said it's about a thousand feet down [the runway]," replies Ops2, "just to the right of the center line. We're gonna try to find it."

The whole exchange takes many minutes as ATC has to deal with multiple approaching aircraft about to land. Eventually, Ops2 reports "We found it!"






"Alright," says ATC, "be a good story for Apple if he turns it on and it works. How shattered is the screen?"

"No, it's perfect shape and it works," reports Ops2. "And the satellite thing had it... exactly where it was."

"No way an iPhone fell off a plane going 50 [to] 60 miles an hour and didn't break the screen," says ATC.

It's not known what type of iPhone the pilot had. But the iPhone 13 has recently been shown to be as durable as the iPhone 12 range, albeit without anyone testing it in quite this way.

And as impressive as it is to survive falling from an aircraft on a runaway, in 2020, an iPhone 6S dropped 1,000 feet from a similar plane in flight.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt Posts: 2,132member
    Largely depends on how it landed.  I'm guessing it probably landed flat.  Either that or he had a good case on it.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    beowulfschmidt said:
    Largely depends on how it landed.  I'm guessing it probably landed flat.  Either that or he had a good case on it.
    My bet is on a good case. We will know in a couple of weeks when the ad from the case company comes out. 
    beowulfschmidtiOSDevSWE
  • Reply 3 of 12
    caladaniancaladanian Posts: 380member
    A car rolled over my 12 pro max, backside and two of three cameras were shattered, front screen in perfect condition after cleaning without a scratch and working – but it was a total damage because to change the backside and cameras is per se total damage. Luckily applecare+ covered me. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 12
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Yet the Apple Discussion Forums are full of rants from users who claim they woke up one morning to find their screen cracked. They didn’t do nuttin’ it just cracked all by itself. :'(  
    mike1MicDorseywilliamlondonuraharaBeatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 12
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    caladanian said:
    A car rolled over my 12 pro max, backside and two of three cameras were shattered, front screen in perfect condition after cleaning without a scratch and working – but it was a total damage because to change the backside and cameras is per se total damage. Luckily applecare+ covered me. 

    Applecare+ changes everything.
    Those who disparage it, marginalize it and trash-talk it are either uninformed or fools.  You may decide to risk not having it -- that's why it's an option, but you need to know it is a calculated risk.
  • Reply 6 of 12
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    So how did this guy drop his phone on takeoff?  Did he have his window open and his arm hanging out like in a car?  While holding a phone?

    I wonder if the FAA has any thoughts on this?  Like revoking his license?
  • Reply 7 of 12
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    So how did this guy drop his phone on takeoff?  Did he have his window open and his arm hanging out like in a car?  While holding a phone?

    I wonder if the FAA has any thoughts on this?  Like revoking his license?
    That was my first thought too. It’s one thing if he’s in a Stearman or a Starduster Too. They’re open cockpit. But this was a light twin. Fully enclosed. Even the little window by the pilot’s seat is just that, little. I’m very curious how he managed to drop his phone. 

    The FAA frowns on dropping any kind of debris on the runway. 
    edited November 2021 GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 8 of 12
    XedXed Posts: 2,546member
    I'm with George and DAalseth? How did this phone get dropped from a plane, at takeoff much less. A Piper PA-44 (aka Seminole) comes with a pilot side door in the window for air, and you can get one for the right seat, but that's uncommon. Even if that's how it fell out those should be closed on takeoff.

    https://www.aircraftwindshieldstore.com/copy-of-door-window-asm-w-vent-2273/

    Was the iPhone mounted to the plane to record video instead of using a GoPro and a proper wing assembly kit? Did they simply leave it on top of the plane when getting in and forgot about it?
    GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 9 of 12
    UNLK_A6UNLK_A6 Posts: 8member
    Xed said:
    I'm with George and DAalseth? How did this phone get dropped from a plane, at takeoff much less. A Piper PA-44 (aka Seminole) comes with a pilot side door in the window for air, and you can get one for the right seat, but that's uncommon. Even if that's how it fell out those should be closed on takeoff.

    https://www.aircraftwindshieldstore.com/copy-of-door-window-asm-w-vent-2273/

    Was the iPhone mounted to the plane to record video instead of using a GoPro and a proper wing assembly kit? Did they simply leave it on top of the plane when getting in and forgot about it?
    My guess is he simply set on the wing during his preflight inspection and forgot it there.
    DAalsethhammeroftruthDogpersonBeatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 12
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    UNLK_A6 said:
    Xed said:
    I'm with George and DAalseth? How did this phone get dropped from a plane, at takeoff much less. A Piper PA-44 (aka Seminole) comes with a pilot side door in the window for air, and you can get one for the right seat, but that's uncommon. Even if that's how it fell out those should be closed on takeoff.

    https://www.aircraftwindshieldstore.com/copy-of-door-window-asm-w-vent-2273/

    Was the iPhone mounted to the plane to record video instead of using a GoPro and a proper wing assembly kit? Did they simply leave it on top of the plane when getting in and forgot about it?
    My guess is he simply set on the wing during his preflight inspection and forgot it there.
    That’s very possible. And then on takeoff he was reminded when it slipped and flew by the side window,. 
  • Reply 11 of 12
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    DAalseth said:
    UNLK_A6 said:
    Xed said:
    I'm with George and DAalseth? How did this phone get dropped from a plane, at takeoff much less. A Piper PA-44 (aka Seminole) comes with a pilot side door in the window for air, and you can get one for the right seat, but that's uncommon. Even if that's how it fell out those should be closed on takeoff.

    https://www.aircraftwindshieldstore.com/copy-of-door-window-asm-w-vent-2273/

    Was the iPhone mounted to the plane to record video instead of using a GoPro and a proper wing assembly kit? Did they simply leave it on top of the plane when getting in and forgot about it?
    My guess is he simply set on the wing during his preflight inspection and forgot it there.
    That’s very possible. And then on takeoff he was reminded when it slipped and flew by the side window,. 

    Or his Apple Watch dinged reminding him that he left his iPhone behind?
    DAalsethBeatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 12
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    iPhoney users claim real iPhone screens break easily. I don’t know how they made that crap up but it all comes down to physics not “greedy Apple”. 
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