Iphone Durability in Question?

[GoldenRivet]

Not any more...

Today i had to make an aircraft delivery to Tulsa Riverside airport in Tulsa Oklahoma. I had let a friend of mine fly the leg up to Tulsa and I would make the return trip.

The aircraft we flew today was a piper warrior which has only one door located on the "co-pilot side" of the aircraft. This is also the instructor's side of the plane, the seat i am most accustomed to sitting in for most flights so it was only natural for me to occupy this seat for nearly any flight these days.

The piper warrior was built with a factory option for air conditioning, however, due to the weight of the system and other issues, most piper warriors these days lack the air conditioning system as many previous owners have removed the systems completely.

so, air flow on the ground can be quite stagnant on a warm day, let alone a hot Summer day in the southern United States. so there is a procedure for dealing with such heat and substandard air flow on the ground.

Upon landing and reaching a slow and safe taxi speed, it is considered an "automatic reflex action" for an experienced flight instructor to crack the cabin door about 3 to 6 inches to accommodate an influx of cool air into the cabin. some Pilots might refer to this as "Poor man's air conditioning"

Today i took this routine action as it was rather warm, however unknown to me my iPhone had slipped out of my pocket, through the 3-6 inch crack of the cabin door, fallen onto the top of the wing, rolled off the back of the wing and landed on the runway center line a few feet below.

as if all of this were not enough of a jolt, the aircraft following behind us apparently ran it's nose tire directly over the phone while clearing the runway.

with a brief explanation to Riverside tower of the bizarre incident we were allowed onto the runway to locate the missing phone.

i picked it up off the runway expecting disaster, there was a bit of tire marks across the touch screen which easily buffed out with a gentle rub from my shirt tail... and other than a small abrasion on the metallic back of the phone and a dented corner there was no damage.

I pushed the "home button" and the home screen opened up normally without hesitation, i used the phone to place a call, send a few text messages and take a picture... and it operated as if nothing had happened at all.

This has resulted in a small procedural change for me though it will be difficult to implement - i will be keeping my iphone in my left pocket so it will be prone top falling into the cabin of the aircraft.

I do have a protective case, but it is to be used with a belt and tucked in shirt which - i rarely use these days since im out of the airline business and back to bouncing around the traffic pattern on warm sunny days when cabin temps can be sweat inducing.