Aviation

A pilot dropped his phone from the plane and it recorded the entire fall

A Tennessee man named Blake Henderson was recently flying in a small plane and recording some video of another plane on his Samsung Galaxy S5 when his phone suddenly got sucked out of the window. It survived the fall and was soon discovered by a very confused man who was working on his yard.

The 2-minute video above is what the phone captured during the ordeal.

Henderson “encountered severe turbulence while taking a quick video of the plane seen at the beginning,” writes his nephew, Robert Ryan. “It was sucked out of the craft and dropped around 1000 feet.”

Luckily for the phone, it landed smack dab in the middle of a soft pile of hedge trimmings. The man in the yard was surprised to find a phone on the ground… that was recording video.

“Oop. Here’s your phone,” says the first voice in the video.

“This ain’t my phone!” says the man working on his yard. “Mine’s in my pocket. It’s got recording on too…”

The man’s wife then looked through the phone’s photos and videos, saw the airplane shots, and eventually managed to get the phone back to Henderson. Here’s a photo of where the phone landed:

Aviation

Lost Tool Found in Qantas A380 After 34 Flights

An Australian Transportation Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation recently revealed that a Qantas A380 operated 34 flights with a 1.25-meter nylon tool lodged in one of its engines.

This turning tool, used during borescope inspections to rotate the intermediate-pressure compressor, was left behind during scheduled maintenance at Los Angeles on December 6, 2023. It remained inside the engine until it was discovered by maintenance staff during a subsequent check at Los Angeles on January 1, 2024.

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The ATSB report highlights two critical lapses. First, maintenance engineers failed to notice the tool during final checks for foreign objects after the borescope inspection. Second, the lost tool procedure was not activated when the tool was identified as missing.

The certifying engineer ultimately cleared the aircraft for service without accounting for the misplaced tool. During the time qantas films the tool was inside, the A380 completed 34 flight cycles, accumulating nearly 294 hours without any noticeable effect on engine performance.

Although the tool was deformed by high-energy airflow within the engine, there was no reported damage to the engine itself. ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell commented.

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“This incident underscores the importance of following established maintenance protocols. Engineers missed the tool during foreign object checks, and the required lost tool procedure wasn’t started after realizing the tool was missing.”

Following the investigation, the airline issued a safety directive, urging all engineering and tool storage teams to adhere strictly to these protocols to prevent similar incidents in the future.

A qantas spokesperson stated, “While the tool didn’t impact engine performance, we take this incident very seriously. It is critical to follow the correct lost tool procedures.”