iPhone 4 falls off plane, survives

Ever tried throwing your iPhone from an aircraft? In most scenarios we would not recommend doing that, but if you have a Griffin Motif TPU case, chances are that your iPhone might just survive the drop.

You don't believe me then ask Ron Walker, an US Air force Combat Controller whose iPhone 4 took a 1000 feet trip from the heavens and survived. Walker shared the tale of his phone with iLounge and gave a detailed account of the incident.

According to Mr. Walker, who was ensuring that the airplane was in the correct position when he sent parachute jumpers out of the aircraft, the plane was traveling at 130 knots (roughly 150 mph) when he stuck his body out of the plane door to look for landmarks. At that point, one of his pockets opened and his iPhone took flight before plunging to the ground. "Well, guess I'll be buying a new phone," he thought to himself, and continued on with his duties.

When he finally reached the ground Walker shared the story with his colleagues. He then downloaded the find my iPhone app, which detected his iPhone 4 to be two miles away in an area between a two-lane highway and a lake.  After triangulating the position of the device Walker along with friends decided to head out on ATVs and recover the device. Ultimately after a long search they found the phone in complete working order, with a tiny scratch and some dirt on it.

Walker claimed the device only had the Griffin Motif TPU case and an after market metal backing on it for protection. He also believed the phones fall might have been slowed by tree leaves and branches.