You won't believe what happened to an iPhone 17 Pro that was sucked out of an airplane window

Imagine sitting inside an airplane about 3,600 feet off the ground, and watching as your iPhone 17 Pro falls out of the aircraft and starts tumbling back down to Earth. With your heart caught in your throat, you try to follow the rapid descent of the phone until you can no longer track it with your eyes.

As you watch your iPhone plummet to the ground, your mind starts wandering about buying a replacement

Right away, your mind starts doing calculations as you figure out how much it will cost to replace the device, which you assume is now scattered all over the ground in little pieces. At the same time, you start to replay exactly what went wrong as, internally, you see the moment the phone escaped from your grasp replaying over and over again in slow motion.

This actually happened to Heather Cline, who has the distinction of being a mixed-media artist from Saskatchewan, Canada. Heather often flies in the plane that she owns with her husband, David. These flights happen to inspire Heather, who creates artwork showing an aerial view of the Canadian terrain.

Heather came up with a makeshift accessory that was supposed to keep the device secured around her neck

Heather and David recently hopped aboard their plane for a flight over Regina. Heather brought her new iPhone 17 Pro along for the flight, as she planned to use it to take photos from the plane, believing that all she needed was to snap that one special picture to be the inspiration for her new project.

What was the worst damage you expect the iPhone to incur?

There was one problem. A grip for the iPhone that Heather ordered had not yet arrived. With this accessory, she would be able to hold the iPhone as though it were a traditional camera. Without it, she put her iPhone 17 Pro inside a case with a lanyard that she placed around her neck. It was a half-assed solution, and even David wasn't totally sure that this was a good idea.

See the moment that the iPhone is found

Nonetheless, it was a good day for flying, Heather recalled. But as she attempted to take a photo, she accidentally passed the phone through an airstream that sucked the phone out of the case, causing it to plummet to the ground.

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The relative airstream, which moves at the same speed and direction as the plane, is high-velocity and is in contrast to the calm air in the cabin of the plane. With the window open to take the photo, a suction effect was created, which led the phone to be sucked out of the case and out of the plane.

Using the Find My app, Heather and David were able to get a rough idea of where the phone landed. Once the couple returned to the ground and secured the plane, they headed over to the location where the iPhone 17 Pro was thought to have landed.

Expecting the worst, Heather was stunned to find her iPhone 17 Pro had survived the 3,600 foot fall unscathed as it had landed in a canola field. She described the condition of the phone as "pristine," which is amazing since she expected it to be buried in the dirt or smashed to pieces.

Heather did say that she learned a lesson and thankfully, there was no tuition cost to pay since she didn't need to purchase a replacement unit. From now on, Heather will not take off until her iPhone is secure.

How can a phone survive a 3,600-foot drop?

What makes this story so fascinating is that we all know someone who dropped a case-protected iPhone only a couple of feet or so, and the drop totally shattered the glass. Yet, an iPhone screen remained pristine after a 3,600-foot fall. Is there a valid explanation for this?

Phones that fall from planes usually land in soft grass, mud, snow, or dense foliage cushioning the impact. Additionally, air resistance means that an iPhone reaches terminal velocity, or its maximum speed of 30 mph to 50 mph, after falling just 100 to 150 feet. You might think that a phone falling 3,600 feet is travelling at a faster rate of speed than one that fell from 100 feet, but they are both dropping at the same speed.

And if an iPhone lands on its back, as it did in this case, the impact energy is distributed across the entire frame of the device, sharply reducing the chance that the phone will be severely damaged. So next time you see your handset plunging toward earth through the window of the plane you are riding, don't panic. Physics suggests that your phone has some chance of landing unscathed.

If reading this story grabbed your interest, check out these articles:

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