This is pretty much the ultimate iPhone drop test.
While searching for the missing door plug from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, Oregon resident Sean Bates discovered an intact iPhone on the side of the road.
The discovery follows the Friday, January 6 incident in which a door plug used for emergency exiting unexpectedly blew out on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 just minutes after takeoff over Portland, Oregon.
Per its investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called on the public to help locate the missing door plug and other items that may have been thrown out of the plane.
Bates, who was part of the search effort, discovered a lost iPhone lying under a bush on the side of the road. After picking it up and looking it over, he stated that the device was “pretty clean with no scratches on it.”
Bates initially thought that the iPhone may have been dropped while jogging or thrown from a moving car, but upon seeing it had battery and no passcode, he unlocked it, and saw a baggage claim confirmation email for flight Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.
“I found a phone sitting on the side of the road that had apparently fallen 16,000 feet,” Bates said in a video posted to Twitter. Bates also noted that he wouldn’t say the device was “undamaged,” and cited that the device could have internal parts knocked loose.
As to the iPhone itself, the Dynamic Island feature is visible, which narrows the possible models down to the iPhone 14 Pro/Max or any from the iPhone 15 lineup.
The NTSB confirmed that the iPhone did come from a passenger onboard the Alaska Airlines flight. An NTSB staffer told Bates this was the second phone found. No images of the second phone have surfaced.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via 9to5Mac and @SeanSafyre