We’ve seen drop tests, but nothing like this. While searching for the missing door plug from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a resident stumbled upon an intact iPhone on the side of the road. He soon discovered that it actually belonged to a passenger on the plane.
On Friday, January 6, a door plug used for emergency exiting unexpectedly blew out on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 just minutes after takeoff over Portland, Oregon.
Per its investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called on the public to help locate the missing door plug and other items that may have been thrown out of the plane.
Sean Bates was part of the search efforts when he came across what appeared to be a lost iPhone lying under a bush on the side of a road. He noted when he picked it up, the device was “pretty clean with no scratches on it.”
At first, Bates thought someone might have dropped it jogging or maybe was thrown from a moving car, but when he noticed it had battery and no passcode, he unlocked it, and saw a baggage claim confirmation email for flight Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.
“I found a phone sitting on the side of the road that had apparently fallen 16,000 feet,” Bates said in a video posted to Twitter.
For an iPhone that got spontaneously egressed while charging (see images), the condition looks really good. I wouldn’t go too far to say “undamaged.” It’s entirely possible the device could have internal parts knocked loose.
As for which model this could be, the Dynamic Island is visible, which narrows it down to iPhone 14 Pro/Max or any from the iPhone 15 lineup. Feel free to leave some analysis below.
The NTSB confirmed that the iPhone did come from a passenger onboard the Alaska Airlines flight. An NTSB staffer told Bates this was the second phone found. No images of the second phone have surfaced.
