Apple iPhone plummets 1,000 feet out of a biplane... and survives

published 16 July 2018

A cracked iPhone screen is almost expected these days as you see them lots, but the Apple gadget might not be to blame as one just proved how tough it is by sky diving without a parachute. That’s after Iowa’s Sarvinder Naberhaus, as reported by Newsweek, contrived to drop hers out of a biplane while attempting to take photos.

Sarwinder and friend Donna Johnson were in the vintage biplane, hired via the Central Iowa Air Service, in order to see Iowa from the air, as you do, when the butter-fingered incident occurred.

However, rather than accepting it was the end for her iPhone Sarvinder tried using the Find My iPhone app on another device, and realised it was still alive. She tracked it to the nearby neighbourhood of Ames, and started calling the mobile - happily not on mute mode - until she heard her ringtone (probably that bloody marimba one). She rushed into a nearby yard, in hot pursuit.

In a double bit of good news, not only was Sarwinder not threatened with a gun by the yard’s irate owner, she also found her Apple device lying in long grass, fully functioning and – somehow – without a scratch on it. Supposedly it even greeted its owner with an alarm and reminder of a forthcoming appointment.

Okay, the free falling iPhone was in a bumper case – but we doubt any manufacturer makes them to withstand a 1,000 foot drop.

This isn't the only example of iPhone toughness. In 2015 a Texan man dropped his iPhone more than 9,000 feet from a plane and claimed it was still working when he found it. Another person found an iPhone 7 underwater off the coast of England where it had been submerged for two days at a depth of 30 feet – yet it was still working too.

The irony is that if you drop yours today, if it lands wrong on a hard surface, even from about 3 feet, you just know it’ll be a goner.

Luke is a former freelance writer for T3 with over two decades of experience covering tech, science and health. Among many others Luke wrote about health tech, software and apps, VPNs, TV, audio, smart home, antivirus, broadband, smartphones, cars and plenty more. In his free time, Luke used to climb mountains, swim outside and contort his body into silly positions while breathing as calmly as possible.