Skip to main content

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.

Recommended Videos

“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.”


OtterBox.com: 250x250 Free Shipping
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.

Williams Pelegrin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…
An iPhone just sold for a crazy amount at auction
An original, unsealed iPhone.

An original, still-boxed iPhone. LCG Auctions

Rare iPhones have been going under the hammer for some large sums in recent months, and the latest auction to feature one of the first Apple handsets has just smashed the record for such a device.

Read more
I’ll be furious if the iPhone 15 Pro doesn’t get this one feature
A black iPhone 14 Pro lying on a table.

It’s peak summer season, but that also means we’re getting closer to Apple’s fall event in September. This is typically when we expect the next generation of iPhones and Apple Watches.

This year, we’re expecting the iPhone 15 lineup, which should include the standard iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. On top of that, it’s safe to say that we should also see the Apple Watch Series 9, but whether we’re getting a second-generation Apple Watch Ultra is still up in the air. And new AirPods? Who knows! Regardless, it will be exciting and jam-packed with a ton of new products.

Read more
This $600 Android phone has one big advantage over the iPhone
Two people holding the Fairphone 4 showing off the phone's rear side.

After nearly two years of wondering if it'll ever be sold officially in the U.S., the Fairphone 4 — a smartphone that hangs its hat on its repairable design — has finally launched in North America. With the evergrowing issue of e-waste, it's nice to see a company that's focused on following sustainable practices that allow users to fix their phones themselves instead of the all-too-common problem of having to throw out your iPhone and buy a new one when small issues occur.

Take note that the U.S. release of the Fairphone 4 is actually a variant called the Murena Fairphone 4, which differs from the base device with its Android-based operating system /e/OS.

Read more