Resume
- iPhones found after the Alaska Airlines incident survived the impact of a fall from 16,000 feet.
- Terminal velocity and grass explain how both iPhones survived the fall.
- A good phone case always helps to protect your phone because it provides more cushioning.
Two iPhones fell from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 and were later recovered. In early January 2024, the flight was forced to make an emergency landing due to a blow to the door plug of the Boeing 737 MAX 9. Remarkably, both devices survived a 5,000-meter drop and were found to be in working condition and intact.
Surviving the fall
Since the incident, reporters from The Wall Street Journal have been investigating how two iPhones survived the fall. They lifted a drone above the Sussex County Fairground in New Jersey and conducted experiments, dropping iPhone 14 and Samsung Galaxy S23 devices from heights of 10, 30 and 300 feet onto both grass and asphalt.
The test showed that both phones survived being dropped onto the grass from all tested heights. The reporters also explained that dropping phones from even greater heights, such as 16,000 feet (as in the incident), was unnecessary. Mark Rober, a former NASA mechanical engineer, explained to the WSJ that whether you drop a phone from 300 feet or from space, the result will be the same because of a phenomenon known as terminal velocity.
Terminal velocity is the maximum speed an object can reach while falling through a fluid (air is the most common example). An associate professor of physics at Southeastern Louisiana University told the WSJ that 300 feet is enough height for all of these devices, with and without housing, to reach their maximum speed.
The reporters repeated the test on asphalt. The iPhone and Galaxy S23 survived two falls from a height of one meter with minimal damage. From a distance of ten meters, the iPhone’s back glass shattered on impact with the asphalt, while the Samsung remained intact but bent.
After the 300-foot fall, the iPhone’s back glass and the glass around the camera shattered, but the phone was intact and working. Meanwhile, the Samsung landed on the bottom right corner, cracking the rubber casing. Although the Samsung’s screen remained intact, the phone bent and would not turn on.
It was concluded that a good phone case always helps to protect your phone because it provides more cushioning. Additionally, both phones that fell from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 ended up on the grass. Grass offers more cushioning and is softer than asphalt, which partly explains why the two phones survived the 5,000-meter fall.
A summary of the incident
The Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 incident, in which a door plug came loose from the aircraft in flight, proved to be one of the most significant aviation events of 2024, raising concerns about the safety of the 737 MAX family of aircraft.
Photo: NTSB
On January 5, 2024, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland International Airport (PDX) with 171 passengers and six crew members on board. Two minutes into the flight the plane climbed 50,000 feet, but six minutes later suffered a blowout in the left door at 16,000 feet and 450 mph. The pilots requested an emergency landing and the aircraft landed safely on runway 28L, with only minor injuries reported.
Following the incident, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a temporary grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft in the US for safety inspections, and numerous investigations were launched.
Shortly after the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX incident, the FAA began auditing the 737 MAX 9 production line and suppliers. Over a month later, the FAA concluded that there were serious deficiencies in the manufacturer’s safety culture. At the end of February 2024, the Department of Justice (DoJ) opened a criminal investigation into the Boeing 737 MAX 9 explosion case.
FAA panel finds Boeing’s safety culture inadequate and confusing
The aircraft manufacturer’s misery continues.
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