Someone accidentally dropped their iPhone out of a plane and it survived – here’s the footage

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We’ve all captured that perfect skyline shot with our phone while looking out of a plane window. It’s fantastic Insta-fodder, telling your followers that you’re a jet-flying, limousine-riding, kiss-stealing, wheelin’ and dealin’ son of a gun. Not everyone has dropped their phone out of a plane window, though.

Even fewer people have had their phone record the fall. And even fewer people than that have found their phone completely intact afterward. According to Brazilian news site G1, though, that’s exactly what happened to filmmaker Ernesto Galiotto.

Plane unbelievable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8DZfajdAbQ&ab_channel=GameMaster

A more cynical person might suggest that the whole story didn’t happen entirely by accident. What better way for someone in film to get a little extra exposure than managing to drop your phone out of a plane and have it record from start to finish, after all? Anyway, onto the details…

It happened while flying over a beach in Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro, for a project. He made the same mistake everyone has at some point – holding his iPhone 6s with just one hand to take a video. Unfortunately, the inevitable happened as he was filming out of the small window. A heavy wind pulled it out of his hand, and it plummeted to the ground below.

Gotta have faith

Anyone else would have given up hope right there and hoped that any pictures and videos were backed up to their iCloud. It turns out Galiotto has a more positive outlook than most people. “I had faith that I would recover it. I thought, ‘If it didn’t fall in the water, we’ll find it.”

Using the Find My app, he discovered his iPhone was still on and had landed in the middle of a beach. When he got there, he found the phone had survived the fall with just a couple of scratches and a cracked screen protector. Even the silicone case he keeps it in was undamaged.

As an awesome twist to the story, his phone even recorded the fall from start to finish. Unfortunately, though, the footage isn’t great. It constantly spins and is super-blurry until it lands camera-up in the sand. It’s just amazing that his phone managed to get through the ordeal in the first place. The fact a video was captured is just the icing on the cake.

Simply smashing

Normally, you’d expect an iPhone screen crack when falling off a sofa, never mind surviving a 300-meter (984 foot) drop. The only explanation we can think of is that this particular phone has been secretly refurbished using a Nokia 3310. Although if that were the case, it would likely have left a crater in the ground.

It seems Galiotto is aware of how incredible the whole story is too. Speaking to G1, he said, “It’s something that, if you tell someone, they won’t believe.” To be honest, he’s got a point. Maybe it’s worth keeping a case on your phone after all.

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