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
, 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!
-- Seanathan Bates (@SeanSafyre) January 7, 2024
When I called it in, Zoe at @NTSB said it was the SECOND phone to be found. No door yet pic.twitter.com/CObMikpuFd
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.