An Oregon resident claimed he found an iPhone that fell 16,000 feet from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 – and it was still in perfectly good condition.
The Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft made an emergency landing in Portland on Friday after a door plug blew out mid-air. The plane was en route to Ontario, California.
X user Sean Bates said on Sunday that he found a passenger’s cellphone on the side of a road.
“Still in airplane mode with half a battery and open to a baggage claim for #AlaskaAirlines ASA1282,” Bates wrote in an X post. “Survived a 16,000 foot drop perfectly in tact [sic]!”
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Bates shared pictures of the phone, which had what appeared to be dew or rainwater on its screen. No dents or cracks were visible, and the phone had its email app open.
“When I called it in, Zoe at @NTSB said it was the SECOND phone to be found,” Bates added.
In a TikTok video, the Oregon resident explained that he came across the phone on a walk.
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“I wanted an excuse to go on a walk this afternoon, and the NTSB had asked people to go and report anything that… fell out of the recent Alaska Airlines accident,” he explained.
“And, uh, I found a phone sitting on the side of the road that had apparently fallen 16,000 ft,” he continued.
Bates said that he was “a little skeptical” about the phone falling from such an extreme height, but the emails on the phone connected it to the flight. It was unlocked when he found it.
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“I was thinking this could just be thrown out of a car, or someone dropped it while they were jogging… so I opened it up and it was in airplane mode with a travel confirmation and baggage claim for Alaska 1282,” he said.