Don’t try this at home.(via TUAW)
Airman Walker’s duties as a jump master require him to ensure that his aircraft is the the proper location before sending parachute jumpers into the air. One week ago (on March 16), he stuck his body out of the open door to look for landmarks as the plane sped through the air at 130 knots (about 150 m.p.h.). As he did, the Velcro seal on his pocket flew open, and out popped his iPhone. Airman Walker could do nothing but watch it fall away from the plane; he assumed it was lost forever, not to mention destroyed by the fall.
Later, he shared his story with colleagues on the ground, one of whom installed the Find My iPhone app on his iPhone. Within minutes the app found the wayward phone, and Airman Walker and his buddy hopped on ATVs and tracked it down in a wooded area about 2 miles away.
Not only was the iPhone undamaged, Airman Walker reports, it was in perfect working order — “not a scratch on it, not even dirty.”
I’m betting it didn’t land on concrete.
It leaves out that he had the iParachute app.
Heck, my daughter dropped her’s on the sidewalk and you would swear it had been dropped from an airplane. Totally trashed it.
I’ve had good luck when I’ve dropped mine, but mine have all been from 4 feet or less. I really want to see the iPhone 5 come out. I’m still using my 3G but I’m hearing September now……most discouraged.
EEEEK.
I’ve dropped my iPhone 4 probably a dozen times onto asphalt and concrete, all from 3-4 feet (pants or shirt pocket) and no problems. Took some chunks out of the case corners, there’s a divot in the top part of the screen, and the back of the case looks like I dribbled acid on it, but otherwise it’s fine.