An iPhone belonging to a passenger on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was found on the side of the road still “perfectly intact” after falling roughly 16,000 feet.
The phone, which was “still in airplane mode” was found by Sean Bates as he was out walking on Sunday, according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Found an iPhone on the side of the road… Still in airplane mode with half a battery and open to a baggage claim for #AlaskaAirlines ASA1282,” Bates wrote in his post. “Survived a 16,000 foot drop perfectly intact!”
Found an iPhone on the side of the road… Still in airplane mode with half a battery and open to a baggage claim for #AlaskaAirlines ASA1282 Survived a 16,000 foot drop perfectly in tact!
— Seanathan Bates (@SeanSafyre) January 7, 2024
When I called it in, Zoe at @NTSB said it was the SECOND phone to be found. No door yet😅 pic.twitter.com/CObMikpuFd
Bates added that when he called it into the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), he was informed that this was the second phone to be discovered, though the door has not yet been found.
In a video posted to X, Bates shared that the NTSB “had asked people to go and report anything” they came across that seemed like it had fallen from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. The plane had taken off from Portland, Oregon, around 5 p.m. and had been in the air for at least 20 minutes when the incident occurred. The airplane was en route to Ontario, California.
Photos and videos posted to X show oxygen masks dangling from the ceiling of the plane and a gaping hole where the window once was. One passenger told KPTV that a child had to be held by his mother and that many people’s phones were sucked out of the plane.
“Thankfully no one was injured or got sucked out,” Bates said of the incident that occurred on Friday. The passenger plane was in flight when a window section blew out as the plane was at 16,000 feet. “But, they did lose some belongings. They were still looking for the door and I found a phone sitting on the side of the road.”
When the wall of the plane just breaks off mid flight @AlaskaAir pic.twitter.com/pMWhpiHmFY
— Kyle Rinker (@Kyrinker) January 6, 2024
“I was of course a little skeptical at first,” Bates admitted of his discovery. “I was thinking, ‘This could just be thrown out of a car or someone dropped it while they were jogging.’ But, I found it, it was still pretty clean. No scratches on it, sitting under a bush and it didn’t have a screen lock on it so I opened it up and it was in airplane mode with a travel confirmation and baggage claim for Alaska 1282.”
In the aftermath of the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a statement ordering the “temporary grounding” of more than 100 Boeing 737 Max-9 aircrafts around the world.
The door plug from the aircraft was reportedly discovered on Sunday, the NTSB said, adding that it has plans to retrieve it.
