Phone that got sucked out of plane's blown out window has been found and it still works

It's not been the best start to the year for the aviation industry, with a plane catching fire in Japan and another having to return to the airport after a section fell off in mid air.

Alaska Airlines flight 1282 had been carrying 171 passengers from Portland in Oregon to Ontario in California when a mid cabin door plug blew out.

This left the interior of the cabin exposed, with the oxygen masks we've seen demonstrated so many times actually deploying.

Imagine waking up from your nap on the flight to find yourself in that scenario. Nightmarish.

The flight returned to Portland airport and was able to land safely 35 minutes after taking off. That must have been a very long 35 minutes.

But things took an unexpected turn when two cellphones were found which have been confirmed to have fallen out of the flight after door plug blew out.

You might be wondering what state these devices were in when they were found.

It's probably just a mass of circuit boards and electronics which is only distinguishable as a phone through the technological equivalent of identifying a body with dental records, right?

TikTok / @strawberr.vy

Wrong, actually. Not only were they intact but one of them, an iPhone, still worked. Don't tell Android users.

Seanathan Bates found the phone and was stunned that it was still functional.

Taking to social media, Seanathan posted: "Found an iPhone on the side of the road... Still in airplane mode with half a battery and open to a baggage claim for #AlaskaAirlines ASA1282 Survived a 16,000 foot drop perfectly in tact!

"When I called it in, Zoe at @NTSB said it was the SECOND phone to be found. No door yet."

People took to the comments to share their surprise at the discovery.

One person joked: "Of course it survived it was in airplane mode? Like what else is the mode for if not for turning the phone into an airplane when dropped?"

X/@SeanSafyre

A second posted: "Wow. I drop mine out of my pocket, it breaks. This one from 16k, just fine..."

A third wrote: "iPhones came a long way. They use to crack from dropping [th]em on carpet."

In a statement, Alaska Airlines' CEO Ben Minicucci said: "Each aircraft will be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections.

"We anticipate all inspections will be completed in the next few days. I am personally committed to doing everything we can to conduct this review in a timely and transparent way.

"We are working with Boeing and regulators to understand what occurred tonight, and will share updates as more is available."