--- title: iPhone: Man's Phone Miraculously Still Works After Falling From Plane description: He found it under a mesquite tree canonical: https://time.com/3981156/iphone-falls-plane/ author: Eliza Gray article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-01T14:54:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:29:32.119Z og:title: Man's iPhone Miraculously Still Works After Falling From a Plane og:description: He found it under a mesquite tree in rural Texas og:url: https://time.com/3981156/iphone-falls-plane/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf3d694fa7b3d251/6988516a5f570fb43ab1ba35/gettyimages-101745067.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2043 og:image:height: 1149 og:image:alt: Apple Announces New iPhone At Developers Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Man's iPhone Miraculously Still Works After Falling From a Plane twitter:description: He found it under a mesquite tree in rural Texas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf3d694fa7b3d251/6988516a5f570fb43ab1ba35/gettyimages-101745067.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Man's iPhone Miraculously Still Works After Falling From a Plane Over Texas > Sponsored content. 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It covers the reporting, scoops and conversations shaping AI and the decisions facing leaders. #### Where can I get reported AI news rather than commentary? In the Loop is TIME's AI newsletter, built on original reporting and access to the people building and governing AI. It publishes Tuesdays and Fridays and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes TIME's In the Loop? Harry Booth, a tech reporter at TIME, writes In the Loop. #### Is In the Loop free? Yes. In the Loop is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-loop-2026q3/newsletters?i=8a888015-8f32-46e4-bb05-82351a3f1917&cr=time-nl-loop-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The evolution of the iPhone [Watch (HLS stream): The evolution of the iPhone](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sNcwFOG5.m3u8) (1:43)  _Published 2014-09-09. Since Apple released the iPhone in 2007, there have been 8 versions of the now-iconic smartphone. Fortune shows you how the iPhone became a global sensation._ by [Eliza Gray](https://time.com/author/eliza-gray/) ## Eliza Gray Aug 1, 2015 2:54 PM UTC Since Apple released the iPhone in 2007, there have been 8 versions of the now-iconic smartphone. Fortune shows you how the iPhone became a global sensation. by [Eliza Gray](https://time.com/author/eliza-gray/) ## Eliza Gray Aug 1, 2015 2:54 PM UTC A Texas man [used an app to find his iPhone](http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/phone-found-in-working-condition-after-9300-foot-fall) in a rural pasture after it fell 9,300 ft. (2,834 m) from a Beechcraft Bonanza airplane on a flight from Houston. The phone fell out of the aircraft during a Monday flight, when a pressure change caused the door to open slightly. The owner of the phone, Ben Wilson, a Texas businessman, used the Find My iPhone app to locate the phone. They found it with a map and a satellite image. “It was by the side of the road south of Jacksboro, under a mesquite tree,” Wilson told the [_Times Record News_](http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/phone-found-in-working-condition-after-9300-foot-fall) in Wichita Falls, Texas. “It was in one piece, scratched a bit on the corners but it still worked,” he said. ### PHOTOS: Beautiful Long Exposures of Airplanes at Night  College Point Blvd., College Point, Queens, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  36th Ave., Flushing, Queens, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  Hermon MacNeil Park, College Point, Queens, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  Greenpoint, Brooklyn, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt for TIME  Greenpoint, Brooklyn, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt for TIME  Greenpoint, Brooklyn, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt for TIME  Queens Botanical Garden, Flushing, Queens, N.Y., June 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  Flushing, N.Y., July 2014. Kevin Kunstadt  Ocean Blvd., Atlantic Beach, N.Y., July 2014. Kevin Kunstadt for TIME  Spray View Ave., Far Rockaway, N.Y., July 2014. 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