Man Discovers Intact Cell Phone From Alaska Airlines Flight, TikTok Video Shows

A man said in a TikTok video that he discovered an intact iPhone that was sucked out of an Alaska Airlines plane that lost a fuselage panel mid-air.

“Quick video I just posted to TikTok summarizing how I found that passenger’s phone,” Seanathan Bates wrote on X on January 7. He goes by @SeanSafyre on X; his profile says he’s a game designer from Vancouver, Washinton. His post quickly had more than 2.6 million views. His TikTok page gives his name as Sean Bates.

“What case did he use?” a person wrote in the comment thread. The answer is not clear, but it was a common inquiry in the comment thread. “Maybe Apple should build the windows in the planes?” a man joked on X. Another person commented, “How is this possible? I’ve dropped my iPhone off the kitchen table and it didn’t make it.”

Another person commented in Bates’ thread on X: “All I want to know is: What brand the case and screen protector was on that thing?!”

Part of the Alaska Airlines plane broke off during the middle of a flight from Portland, Oregon, on January 5.

Passengers told KPTV that “a kid had to be held in his seat by his mom and people lost their phones which were sucked out of the plane.” According to the television station, a child lost his shirt when the plane depressurized.

“Alaska made the decision to temporarily ground its 737-9 MAX fleet pending inspections which began early this morning,” the airline wrote in a news release.

“The aircraft involved in flight 1282 was delivered to us on Oct. 31, 2023. The part of the aircraft involved in this event is called a plug door – a specific panel of the fuselage near the rear of the aircraft,” they added.

The door plug has now been recovered as well.

Here’s what you need to know:

The Man Wrote That He ‘Found an iPhone on the Side of the Road’ & It Wasn’t Even Scratched

Bates wrote, “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😅”

“Just because so many are reaching out: I’m going to do one interview with KPTV tomorrow morning to show them where I found the phone. Other than that, I’m not going to make a whole media tour over finding a lost cell phone,” he added.

In his TikTok video, he said that he “went to go for a walk today and found a phone belonging to an Alaska Airlines passenger sitting on the ground.”

He said the NTSB “had asked people to go and report anything that looks like it had fallen out of the recent Alaska Airlines accident.”

“I found a phone sitting on the side of the road that had apparently fallen 16,000 feet,” said Bates. He noted that, at first, he thought maybe it was thrown out of a car window. The phone was “pretty clean, no scratches on it, sitting under a bush.” But then he noticed it was open to the baggage claim for the flight and was in airplane mode.

No one was killed in the plane incident because the seat next to the open section was unoccupied.

“There was no one seated there. There was no one seated by the window,” a passenger says in one video of the plane mishap. According to KPTV-TV, the flight made an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.

Alaska Airlines wrote, “Several guests onboard experienced injuries that required medical attention. All guests have now been medically cleared.”

Alaska Airlines Says Its Maintenance Team Will Inspect the ‘Mid-Exit Door Plug’ on Its 737-9 Max Fleet

On January 7, Alaska Airlines wrote in a news release:

While we await the airworthiness directive (AD) inspection criteria from the FAA and Boeing, our maintenance teams are prepared and ready to perform the required inspections of the mid exit door plugs on our 737-9 MAX fleet.

The 737-9 MAX grounding has significantly impacted our operation. We have cancelled 170 Sunday flights and 60 cancellations for Monday, with more expected. Cancellations will continue through the first half of the week, and we encourage guests with travel plans to continue to check their email and alaskaair.com for updates.

Alaska Airlines posted about the incident on its X page.

“S1282 from Portland to Ontario, CA experienced an incident this evening soon after departure. The aircraft landed safely back at Portland International Airport with 171 guests and 6 crew members. We are investigating what happened and will share more as it becomes available,” the airline wrote.

In a statement on its website, the airline wrote,

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, experienced an incident this evening soon after departure. The aircraft landed safely back at Portland International Airport with 171 guests and 6 crew members. The safety of our guests and employees is always our primary priority, so while this type of occurrence is rare, our flight crew was trained and prepared to safely manage the situation. We are investigating what happened and will share more information as it becomes available.

According to KOIN-TV, the plane had reached an altitude of 16,000 feet when the incident occurred.

Kyle Rinker shared a photo on X and wrote, “When the wall of the plane just breaks off mid flight @AlaskaAir.”

NTSB Newsroom wrote on X, “NTSB is investigating an event involving Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. We will post any updates regarding the investigation when they are available.”

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