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back to article iPhone plunges 13,500 ft from skydiver's pocket - and lives

A Minnesota skydiver's iPhone 4 slipped out of his pocket at 13,500 feet, landed on a factory rooftop, and lived to tell the tale. Jerrod McKinney told CNN that he was "just absolutely shocked" when his high-flying iPhone still worked after the fall – especially considering that its glass had cracked when his toddler had …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Angel

    Biblical

    Would have been more of a story if you drop [sic] the iPhone from the title "Skydiver plumets 13,500 feet - and lives".

    However, I believe what we have here is the begins of a new religion and this will be one of many miracles ascribed to St Jobs in years to come. The biblical parallels are already there. IPhones one to four are in fact John the Baptist phones and herald the even greater iPhone that is yet to come.

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    1. Patrick R
      Reply Icon
      Angel

      It was written.

      What's next ? "iPhone seen walking on water"?

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      1. Trygve Henriksen
        Reply Icon

        You mean...

        Skipping on water...

        Get the right spin and enough force and it should skip at least 6 or 7 times...

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  2. skeptical i

    If true, that's pretty impressive ...

    ... considering how much kit goes kerblooey if you even THINK of giving it the stink eye.

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  3. Anthony 13
    Facepalm

    Well I can confirm...

    ... an uncased iPhone does NOT survive a 25 story drop down an elevator shaft ... I should have had me one of those cases it seems.

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    1. InITForTheMoney
      Reply Icon

      Likely because it hit the sides of the shaft...

      A falling object that experiences a single impact as it hits the ground is likely to fare better than a falling object which bounces off the sides of a solid concrete lift shaft several times. Also there is no mention as to the type of roofing on the factory. A tin or lead lined flat roof for example would probably have some give and would deform easier than the iPhone, likely lessening the force of the impact. A concrete roof on the other hand would deform less easily than the iPhone and probably have dessimated it.

      A slanted or curved roof would also have been more forgiving providing a sort of skimming effect for the phone (as opposed to a straight bounce as the heaviest corner of the phone hit the flat roof), allowing more of the energy to be absorbed over a greater surface.

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  4. JimC

    Not that suprising.

    Its light, it has a large surface area. The terminal velocity isn't going to be that great. It would certainly be tumbling like a falling leaf going down. It probably wouldn't get any faster after about the first 50 or 100 feet or something in that region. I wouldn't want it falling on my head, but it may not have hit that hard.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Mushroom

    So

    My E90 would have gone through the roof.

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Remarkable result, that's for sure!

    BUT.......... 130 feet would probably not have been any different to 13,000 - the phone would hit the ground at same speed (given its terminal speed).

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  7. Winkypop Silver badge
    Joke

    iFell

    ...and lived to Tweet about it.

    3 1
  8. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    Consumer Reports impartial?

    Consumer Reports impartial? They seem to just jump on any anti-Apple story perhaps to get a few headlines / links?

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Why?

    Why take the phone with him? What I have seen of skydiving on TV, he couldn't use it on the plane because of the noise, (don't know about the legal aspect of having mobile on a skydiving plane).

    Was he waiting for an important call and going to answer it on the way down?

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    1. Anonymouslemming
      Reply Icon

      I always carry a phone

      If you have an off landing (land away from the designated landing area) it's nice to have a phone with you to be able to call the DZ and let them know that you're still alive.

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Hmm.... Interesting...

    My nokia got run over by a (fairly hefty) lorry and guess what, I could still make calls (keypad ftw). He couldn't.

    Nyah nyah nyah and all that...

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  11. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

    I'm astonished..

    My (somewhat older) iPhone gives me "no SIM" the moment I as much as *think* about knocking it. Maybe I'll buy a newer model after all. But then again, I might wait for the iPhone 5 - buy only the odd numbers. After all, I do use Linux :-).

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  12. CraPo
    Gimp

    @ac 07:27

    Sometimes skydivers land off of the intended area and a phone is handy to arrange a pick up or help in the unlikely event of injury. He was probably playing Angry Birds on the way up. Or texting. Skydiving aircraft are generally a little less sophisticated than commercial jets so having a phone on is not so much of an issue. Also probably too lazy to switch it off/to aircraft mode each time.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      fair enough...

      didn't think of after the landing! My only experience of skydiving is watching it on the TV, or at air shows

      Thanks

      ac 7:27

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Goes to show...

    that an iPhone is as good as a Timex. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

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  14. Sampler

    Here was I hoping..

    He'd left the camera recording - that'd been an awesome bit of footage!

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    1. ukbabz
      Reply Icon

      Cameras are durable

      Check out the go-pro... there's a few bits of footage of them getting knocked off and recording til impact and after..

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6mXMRJmQas

      (This one looks like it was knocked off the canopy opens so will have fallen around 3,000ft..)

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  15. The BigYin

    I see...

    ...an opportunity. The "iChute" case. A bit bulky, but if the phone detect free-fall it deploys the chute and comes down safely, also sending SMS updates to a designated phone of its current position.

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    1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Maybe Stephen Fry's explanation of GPS was used

      init?

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  17. Sargs
    Trollface

    Product Placement Much?

    Let's see- ignoring the iPhone, iPad and "Find My Phone" mentions, we have prominent references and links for FORD F150 RAPTOR and INCIPIO CASE, neither of which added much to the understanding of the story, although maaaaybe they added to someone's bank balance?

    Okay, perhaps the case link is useful if you want to know what case not to use next time you go sky-diving?

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  18. Nick Galloway
    Facepalm

    Was is the ground height?

    So 13,500 feet!?

    I assume this is above mean sea level and if so, what is the hight of the ground above mean sea level, not to mention it fell at some point in the downward transit. The bloke should be charged for endangering those on the ground (as noted by others, what if someone had been struck by the falling lump of Apple)!

    I must note that only in the USA would someone brag about being a complete pillock!

    Why do you want or need a mobile phone during a sky dive event. Some people are truly addicted to their technology 'toys'. It will be idiots wil falling iPads next, you mark my words!

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    1. dssf
      Reply Icon

      "Why do you want or need a mobile phone during a sky dive event?"

      If any others jumped with him, they might know whether it was really mounted as a helmet cam. It might be unlikely that he actually held it, since eventually he'd have to become "unmesmerised" and concentrate on landing more than on shooting footage.

      If the FAA or relevant bodies can get ahold of the phone and determine whether it was used to dock or tele transmit jump footage, THEN he'd have some serious answering to do -- especially if it as determined the footage was hand-held rather than helmet or chest mounted.

      Do drafts of air actually get into pockets? Don't jumpers were jump suits and check each other's gear and pockets? Maybe he had it Velcro'd on and the wind finally ripped it off in a gust...

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Stop

        You'd be suprised

        We are quite strict in this country over requirements to jump camera. In america the approch is more scatter guns, with some Dropzones wanting a minimum no. of jumps some dont care... Anyway thats besides the point.

        I dont understand why the FAA would care whether its in his hands or not. In the US this isnt an issue.

        My guess is he had it in his pocket and forgot to zip it up - either within his jump suit or not.

        Skydivers don't wear airproof suits so the "drafts" of air can get into your pockets and work things out (also the decelartion from 120mph* odd -> 20mph*)

        So in summary:

        - Yes he can jump with objects in his hands

        - Yes he could have had it in his pocket and worked out

        - Some skydivers do jump in jumpsuits, although its a bit nicer this time of year to wear shorts and t-shirts.

        *120mph figure is approximate and may vary due to the fatness of ones arse.. the 20mph depends on the size of canopy..

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  19. yoinkster
    Thumb Down

    13,500ft ... or less

    The article seems to suggest that at some point during the descent the phone fell out of this guy's pocket because it says he checked his pockets when he was safely on the ground. So basically, the phone could've easily fallen from just 100ft as the bloke has no idea when he actually dropped it. I was hoping to see him saying "as I jumped out the plane I saw my phone disappear off" but no, all we know is that at some point it squirmed away.

    Not quite as exciting a story as it could've been.

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    1. Alex King
      Reply Icon
      Paris Hilton

      Apart from...

      The fact that he was a quarter of a mile away from his phone when he landed, so if it had been dropped from only 100 feet he would then have had to travel very sideways from that point onwards. Even if there's some exaggeration, he missed the factory roof. Perhaps this will regain you some level of excitement...

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      1. yoinkster
        Reply Icon
        FAIL

        ahem ...

        "his iPhone was LESS than a quarter mile away." (my emphasis)

        so still not all that exciting or accurate a story.

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  20. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Missing...

    Lots of mockery for owning an iPhone, but nobody has yet to point out the absurd vehicle the guy owned.

    FordTESTOSTERONE!

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  21. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    It is Incipio that should take credit...

    The Incipio case clearly absorbed sufficient energy to break before transferring the remainder to the phone. If it had been a naked iPhone, it would've been toast.

    Sorry. Bad reporting. Bad!

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  22. Tom 7

    13.5 thousand shmousand

    Given the said phone reaches terminal velocity after a couple of hundred feet - I've seen them in a worse state after a trip down a stairwell - its not really an 'achievement'.

    Repeat the same in a vacuum and get back to me.

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    1. Rob - Denmark
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Agree on the terminal velocity thingy, but...

      Probably not a lot of skydiving being done in vacuums.

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  23. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Jobs proves Newtons Theory of Gravity

    Nice to see after hundred of years someone has recreated the "Apple falling from a height" experiment made famous by Sir Isaac Newton.

    Next they'll be trying to tell us that E does equal MC2

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  24. Maty

    case?

    Looking at the case - flat one side, rounded edges on the other - it is probable that falling a considerable distance actually helped.

    A longer fall would give the phone time to stabilize from a tumble, and the shape suggests that it would have completed the fall face up in something between a spin and a spiral. Given the amount of surface area involved I doubt air resistance allowed anything like full terminal velocity to be reached.

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  25. Christian Berger

    When will Apple sue?

    After all he destroyed Apple's property.

    On the other hand. Falling down is a typical use of a mobile device. It should have been designed to withstand that.

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  26. Andus McCoatover
    Windows

    That's pretty fuc*king impressive!!!

    Nice build, although I understood "Gorilla Glass" could take anything.

    Oh, Mama, that's seriously good!!!!

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  27. Anonymous Coward
    Gimp

    Will it bounce?

    Bet that wouldn't work with an Ipad/Ipad2.

    On the flip side, that would have made one AWESOME video from the phone's POV.

    :-)

    AC/DC

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  28. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    Blah, blah, blah

    I've seen people throw eggs out of planes from 10,000 feet. Guess what? Most cracked but some of them survived. A lot of it depends on how it lands, where it lands and how the force is distributed through the object. People have fallen from this height - when the reserve parachute failed to open and survived with fairly minor injuries. The fact that his iPhone still lives is not a Jesus phone miracle, just a bit of lady luck.

    @ AC 11:26 - I think there was a joke in there, but you do know the whole Apple-Newton story is cobblers? I'd hate to see the inventor of the milled edge coin tarred with an Apple cloured brush.

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