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

Aeroflot Buys Used Planes for Spare Parts Amid Sanctions

In the face of ongoing Western sanctions that have severely impacted Russia’s aviation industry, Aeroflot, the country’s largest airline, has devised a strategic plan to bolster its fleet’s spare parts inventory.

The airline is set to acquire five Boeing 737-800BCF freighters from Atran Airlines, a move that will allow it to dismantle the aircraft for critical components. The planes, which will be transferred to Aeroflot’s low-cost subsidiary Pobeda, will not be converted into passenger jets but instead will be stripped for valuable parts to support existing operations.

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Aeroflot’s plan to purchase these Boeing 737-800BCF freighters comes as part of a broader strategy to mitigate the effects of Western sanctions, which have crippled the Russian aviation sector. With the sanctions restricting access to essential aircraft parts and spare components, Aeroflot is exploring alternative ways to maintain and repair its fleet.

Instead of converting the freighters from cargo to passenger planes, a process deemed “unreasonably expensive” under current sanctions, the airline intends to focus on extracting high-value components such as engines, landing gear, avionics, and other essential systems.

The deal will be structured in a way that allows Aeroflot to indirectly purchase the freighters through an insurance settlement with the aircraft’s lessor, AerCap.

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The Russian government’s insurance company will reimburse the aircraft’s value, and the planes will then be leased back to local operators. This method circumvents some of the restrictions imposed by international sanctions while ensuring that the airline gains access to the necessary components to support its fleet.

By dismantling the aircraft for spare parts, Aeroflot aims to secure critical resources for the ongoing maintenance of its existing fleet. Components from the Boeing 737-800BCF freighters, such as engines and avionics, are expected to be reused in other aircraft within Aeroflot’s network, ensuring that the airline can keep its operations running smoothly