iPhone Still Working After 9,300 Foot Drop

Businessman’s iPhone somehow still works, even after being dropped from a plane

iphone plane drop still works find my — GongTo/Shutterstock

Given the fragility of phones nowadays relative to the phones of yesteryear, it’s no wonder that dropping a smartphone will make some people squeamish. This is probably what Texas businessman Ben Wilson felt like, only magnified, when his iPhone fell out of a plane and plummeted to earth during a flight from Houston, reports The Wichita Falls Times Record News.

According to the report, Wilson, owner of Gas Corp. of America, and pilot Will Warnock were flying a Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft earlier this week when the passenger door opened slightly due to a pressure change. Wilson’s phone fell through that opening without him even realizing it until the pair landed. The phone dropped 9,300 feet.

“The pressure popped and a newspaper flew out but I didn’t see the phone go,” said Wilson. “After we got back I looked for it on the floor [of the plane] and in my briefcase but couldn’t find it.”

The story doesn’t end there, though. Gas Corp. vice president of sales John Kidwell said Wilson used his Find My iPhone in order to track down the lost phone. Eventually, the app told Wilson that the phone was outside a rural town in Jack County, Texas.

With the location and map in hand, it was time for a road trip as Wilson and Kidwell took off to find the iPhone this past Tuesday. And to throw in some local color, the pair reported being followed by a donkey as they searched a pasture and, impressively enough, found the iPhone in great condition.

According to Wilson, the iPhone was in a Mophie battery case, which most likely prevented the handset from receiving significant damage. “It was in one piece, scratched a bit on the corners but it still worked,” said Wilson.”

Because the case took the majority of the impact, however, the battery of the Mophie case was missing.

Unfortunately, not every such story has a happy ending. 18-year-old Jeremy Cook was killed after confronting three people he suspected stole his smartphone. So we would highly advise caution if retrieving your phone might involve confronting anything more menacing than a donkey.

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