Man discovers iPhone that fell out of Alaska Airlines flight 1282

ICYMI, an Alaska Airlines flight recently had to make an emergency landing after part of the plane blew off.

Footage of the flight is pretty terrifying - it shows a whole chunk of the plane missing, with passengers strapping on oxygen masks.

The Boeing 737-9 Max jetliner blew out a window and a portion of its fuselage shortly after take-off three miles above Oregon on its way to California last Friday, creating a gaping hole that forced pilots to make an emergency landing.

The depressurized plane returned safely to Portland International Airport about 20 minutes after it departed.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered the immediate grounding of Boeing 737-9 Max jetliners, and the National Transportation Safety Board said it will also investigate.

Luckily, none of the 171 passengers and six crew members was seriously injured. But people's belongings weren't so lucky, with mobile phones flying out of the hole.

You might think that would be game over for your smartphone - after all, would it really be able to survive the 16,300ft drop? Even if you did, how would you then even manage to find it?

They seem like almost insurmountable problems - but one lucky Alaska Airlines passenger had their phone retrieved, and it looks to be pretty much intact.

TikToker Sean Bates (@seansafyre) found the iPhone and recounted the story in a video.

"Went to go for a walk today and found a phone belonging to an Alaska Airlines passenger sitting on the ground," he said.

Bates ventured out because the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) asked people in the area to report anything that might have fallen out the plane.

"I found a phone sitting on the side of the road that had apparently fallen 16,000 feet," Bates said in the TikTok video.

"I was of course a little skeptical at first, I was thinking this could just be thrown out of a car, someone dropped it while they were jogging - but I found it."

How could he be so sure it was a phone from the Alaska Airline flight?

"It didn't have a screen lock on it so I opened it up, and it was in airplane mode with a travel confirmation and baggage claim for Alaska 1282," he said.

All that, and Bates said the phone was "pretty clean" with "no scratches on it".

In another video, Bates said he told the NTSB he found the phone, and when he went to deliver it to them they revelaed they'd already found another phone.

“When serious accidents like this occur, it is critical for us to work transparently with our customers and regulators to understand and address the causes of the event, and to ensure they don’t happen again,” Boeing chief executive Dave Calhoun wrote in a message to employees on Sunday.

Alaska Airlines chief executive Ben Minicucci said: “We are working with Boeing and regulators to understand what occurred … and will share updates as more information is available.

“My heart goes out to those who were on this flight – I am so sorry for what you experienced.”

While the phone seems to have made its way back to the NTSB, no word yet on whether it's been reunited with its owner - and if it actually works as well as it looks to.