This iPhone Survived A 4,800-Metre Drop From An Airplane. Here's How
Truly a miracle.
An iPhone reportedly survived a 4,800-metre drop after it flew out of an Alaska Airlines plane midair
Last Friday, 5 January, Alaska Airlines flight ASA1282 bound for Ontario International Airport in San Bernardino County, California, was forced to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport when a door plug fell off the fuselage midair.
No serious injuries were reported, however, some passengers sitting closest to the hole reported that some of their personal items were sucked out.
One such item was an iPhone, which was later discovered by Portland resident Sean Bates.
He posted images of the device on X on Sunday, 7 January, claiming that he found it along Barnes Road in Portland. According to his post, the phone was found in airplane mode, had half its battery remaining, and was displaying baggage claim information for flight ASA1282.
This is actually the second phone found to have originated from the Alaska Airlines flight
Bates said after reaching out to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the organisation investigating the emergency, he was informed that it was the second phone from the flight discovered in the vicinity.
Check out Bates' TikTok video regarding the incident:
A physicist explained how the iPhone survived the impossible fall
Duncan Watts, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Oslo, explained why the iPhone did not sustain any damages after the fall.
"The basic answer is air resistance," said Duncan Watts.
"I think the counterintuitive thing here is that an iPhone falling from the sky doesn't end up moving that quickly because of air resistance," he added.
As an object falls toward Earth, it will eventually reach its terminal velocity, a stage where gravity can no longer accelerate it further due to the air resistance it faces from the Earth's atmosphere.
According to Watts, the iPhone was tumbling down to Earth at an approximate terminal velocity of 48 km/h
Assuming that the iPhone tumbles as it drops to Earth, there will be a considerable amount of air resistance acting against the iPhone, essentially providing an upwards force.
"The larger the iPhone, the lower the terminal velocity," said Watts.
"The maximum is around 160 km/h, but that would only happen if the phone's screen was perpendicular to the ground," he added.
In addition, a soft, grassy surface would significantly increase the impact time, thus reducing the force of impact. According to Bates in his TikTok video, the iPhone was found in a bush, which could have cushioned the fall.
Funny how our iPhones can't survive a drop from our desks, yet manage to withstand a freefall out of a plane
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