iPhone survives 16,000 foot drop from Alaska Airlines flight where panel ripped off
Two cell phones were recovered from the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jet that had an inflight explosive episode as it flew across Oregon over the weekend.
The incident occurred on Friday just as the plane was making its way to Ontario, California.
During a news conference on Sunday, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy confirmed that the devices were recovered by residents in the area where the door plug fell from the structure.
“Some community members found a cell phone in a yard and a cell phone on the side of the road and contacted us and handed them in,” she said.
One of the devides, which appears to be an iPhone, still appeared to be completely intact and functional after it dropped from 16,000 feet in the sky. The cell phone still had part of a charger attached to it.
One of those residents appeared to have posted his discovery to X, formerly Twitter, writing, “found an iPhone on the side of the road… Still in airplane mode with half a battery and open to baggage claim for #AlaskaAirlines ASA1282.”
Ms Homendy praised the work of community members with their assistance in the investigation.
“I want to thank the community,” she said. “Every single time the NTSB asks the community to come together, provide photos, provide videos, look for something, report back in, it happens.”
She said cell phones can be used as key evidence in investigations to help determine how tragedies occur, adding that the agency plans to sift through the devices before returning them to their owners.
Meanwhile, all types of Boeing 737 Max 9s have been grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration until the agency is “satisfied that they are safe.”
At the end of the news conference, Ms Homendy returned to the podium to confirm that officials have located the door plug that fell from the plane. She explained that a man she referred to only as “Bob” discovered it in his backyard and alerted officials. The man is a schoolteacher in Portland, Ms Homendy said.
“We’re going to go pick that up and make sure that we begin analyzing it,” she said.
