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iPhone 4 falls 1,000 feet from airplane, survives without a scratch

S

Schweitzer

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
181
0
Quote:

"While leaning out of an airplane looking for landmarks, Walker’s Velcro pocket flap popped open and his iPhone 4 plummeted to the earth below. At the time, the plane was traveling at 150 m.p.h at an altitude of roughly 1,000 feet.
[...]
they found the smartphone in perfect working condition without a scratch on it. Walker kept his iPhone in a standard Griffin case and it had no other casing or special protection at the time of its fall."

http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/23/iphone-4-falls-1000-feet-from-airplane-survives-without-a-scratch/
 
In other news, a woman in Perth reports she dropped an iPhone 3 feet onto the floor, shattering the display. :rolleyes:
 
Apart from all the smart asses, I already read about this story and I found it pretty cool. Not something you see everyday.

Something probably broke the fall, nothing too extraordinary.
Click to expand...

Let's throw you out of a plane and see if something breaks your fall.
 
Hmmm. Time to do some calculations.
Need to find terminal velocity of a 137gram object. Gravity is the only force acting on it. 150 mph could be 1000mph. Wouldn't matter.

Hmmm. Maybe call myth busters. Once we get terminal velocity. They can test iPhone 4 falling on different materials.
 
scuzzbug said:
How could this be true aha. I've had my phone replaced three times because I shattered the glass from dropping it maybe 1 metre at the most!
Click to expand...

You gotta remember the phone most likely dropped on grass. The phone had a case. The grass also almost acts as a pillow on impact. It's not like concrete where the phone takes the full impact.
 
flying_pigs.jpg
 
xAnthony said:
You gotta remember the phone most likely dropped on grass. The phone had a case. The grass also almost acts as a pillow on impact. It's not like concrete where the phone takes the full impact.
Click to expand...

So, you want to fall 1000 feet on grass and see how well that cushions you? I agree that would be easier than concrete, but I think at 1000 feet, anything save super cushioning designed to cushion a fall like that is still pretty impressive that the iphone survived falling on.

JRoDDz said:
It may have hit some branches on the way down.
Click to expand...

See above reply about how it landing on almost anything save cushioning designed for falls is impressive from a 1000 feet fall.
 
So, you want to fall 1000 feet on grass and see how well that cushions you?
Click to expand...

I'm sure grass is a lot more comforting than concrete.

I'm doubtful, but I believe it. (But is it really relevant? Who is ever 1000 in the air and at risk of dropping their phone?)
 
tigress666 said:
So, you want to fall 1000 feet on grass and see how well that cushions you? I agree that would be easier than concrete, but I think at 1000 feet, anything save super cushioning designed to cushion a fall like that is still pretty impressive that the iphone survived falling on.



See above reply about how it landing on almost anything save cushioning designed for falls is impressive from a 1000 feet fall.
Click to expand...

A phone and a human are two completely different things and I can't believe you just compared them. If I kicked you out of a plane and you hit the ground you would splatter. Remember, you also weigh let's say 200 pounds. (could be more or less for all I know) anyways... The iPhone 4 weighs 137 grams. The impact is obviously a lot less than a human hitting the ground. It's not hard for something to have cushioned the fall. Strong wind currents could of pushed around the phone and even slowed it down as it got closer to the ground. The ground could of also been moist so the phone just sunk into the grass on impact. You really don't know...

Here is an article of a man falling two miles out of a plane and SURVIVING when his parachute didn't open.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/17113222/ns/today/

According to your post, anything is now possible.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
weespeed said:
Maybe call myth busters. Once we get terminal velocity. They can test iPhone 4 falling on different materials.
Click to expand...

That would be awesome.....the first i-device feature on a show.
If they could prove that it won't break Apple's sales would no doubt go up a bit. :D
 
It was my phone

For any of you doubting the story, it is 100% true. The iphone landed in the forest, on dirt and pine needles. If you exit an aircraft at 150 mph, you are already traveling at terminal velocity so wheather or not it reached it, there is your answer. I have an aftermarket metal backing and a Griffin TPU case on the phone. For the most accurate account, see TUAW or iLounge. There are a lot of "doubters" out there but I have no reason, nor the imagination to make this up....and I have about 30 eye-witnesses (all of the jumpers on board and my co-workers.) It is just a cool story of luck that I wanted to share.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

In other news, new images of this exact location show a 1 acre area filled with pillows, locals say some idiot drops his device everyday and lies about incredible landings to get attention.

Isnt this the same bluff that reported dropping a droid while skydiving??
 
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