We all know the feeling we get after dropping our iPhone and immediately inspecting the glass for damage. Now imagine dropping your iPhone out of an airplane. That happened over the summer for conservationist Ashley Prange.

Prange was filming video from inside a small aircraft over Germany when her iPhone 16 Pro was suddenly pulled out of her hands and out of the plane. It plummeted more than 2,600 feet while the aircraft was traveling at 110 knots.

She assumed that was the end of it. Still, she opened Find My and saw the phone’s last location deep inside a sprawling forest near her cousin’s home in the Rhine Valley. Since her credit card and driver’s license were inside the case, she decided the search was worth a try.

Hours later, in the middle of the dense forest, she spotted it. The iPhone was fully intact. The screen had no cracks. It powered on without issue. Prange says the survival comes down to a Bellroy wallet case and Apple’s build quality for the iPhone 16 Pro.

Meanwhile, I can drop my AirPods from three feet off the ground and nearly lose both earbuds… impressive drop test, and what a cool way to have video of the skydiving perspective without making the jump yourself!

Check out the video footage from the IRL AirDrop in the slides below:

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