iPhone Survives 1,000 Foot Fall From Aircraft

This is a definite "do not try this at home", kids.

"Jump Master" US Air Force Combat Controller Ron Walker was leaning out the side of a plane traveling at about 150 miles per hour when his iPhone 4 slipped out of his pocket. iLounge, to whom Walker originally emailed his testament (SPOILER ALERT: It was typed out and emailed on the same iPhone!), reported that immediately after losing the phone, Walker thought to himself,

Well, guess I'll be buying a new phone.

Yeah. I'm sure that's exactly what he was thinking after dropping his phone out of an effing plane.

Walker reportedly used the "Find My iPhone" app on a friend's phone to locate the fallen phone. Walker probably had no hope whatsoever that the phone still functioned, but evidently wanted to back up his data (is Angry Birds really that addictive? Yes, yes it is).

I'm sure Walker was delighted to find that not only was his data intact, but the rest of the phone too. Walker speculated that the trees and brush may have slowed the iPhone 4's fall (doesn't that sound like a punchline?), but it was reportedly protected by a third-party Griffin Motif TPU case as well as a metal backing.

Now tell me this isn't the best advertisement that Griffin could possibly hope for.



Even more deliciously ironic are the constant and uneventful cases of shattered iPhones. In fact, that same tragedy recently befell two of my friends. One was sitting in a Mexican restaurant and absentmindedly knocked his phone from the table (max 2 foot drop). The other dropped hers on the sidewalk while waiting for a bus (max 4 foot drop). I sent the iLounge article to both of them- figured it might cheer them up. Here's a pic of what not dropping your iPhone out of a plane does to it:



That's the bus-stop incident. Mexican Restaurant couldn't find the time in his super busy schedule to find a camera to take a picture of his cracked iPhone 4. Even though he works at a creative agency. Baffling, absolutely baffling.