Skydiver Drops Phone From 12,000 Feet, Finds It Next Day Without a Scratch

The jaw-dropping moment a sky diver’s phone plummeted thousands of feet during a dive has been caught on camera.

In footage captured by experienced sky diver Frank Carballido, the phone falls dramatically from over 12,000 feet to the ground.

Carballido, who has been sky-diving for three years, was in the air in Zephyrhills, Florida, when he dropped the phone. “I forgot to zip up the pocket I keep my phone in,” he told Newsweek. “We take our phone in case we land off and need to be picked up.

When he landed, he couldn’t remember the password for his Samsung device that would let him track it with the Google Find My Device feature.

But astonishingly, just a few moments after landing, he found the Samsung Galaxy S24, intact and undamaged.

“It’s incredible,” Carballido said in disbelief. “I’ve heard of this commonly happening to other sky divers, but experiencing it firsthand is surreal.”

A phone dropped from 12,000 feet would free-fall before reaching its terminal velocity of around 120-150 miles per hour, then falling at a constant speed until it reaches thinner air close to the ground.

The fact that the phone was still usable proved practically unbelievable, especially when Carballido revealed the device’s protection—or lack thereof.

“The case is a cheap $15 Amazon case that I honestly don’t recommend,” Carballido said. But it did manage to help keep the phone intact after its drop.

Often sharing his dives on social media, Carballido posted the video on his Instagram page where it has been viewed 3.5 million times.

In the comments, people shared their reactions.

“I worry about my phone falling out of my pocket while walking and you’re jumping out of planes with it in a non zipped pocket?!” said bad.b.studios.

A fellow sky diver shared a similar experience—but noted he didn’t find it so easy to find his phone again: “Consider yourself lucky finding it that fast. Mine landed in a big bush on silent mode and although the bush saved it, it made it hell to find,” said andrew__pelayo.

Several others were keen to find out what model phone and phone case Carballido was using.

“The phone was a paid actor,” joked gab_moita.

Viewer earllouie_ asked: “What if your phone hit someone else’s head?”

But Carballido himself replied and explained: “It’s very unlikely. The plane we sky-dive out of is usually flying over the airport or in this case a forest. They aren’t going to drop us over a residential area lol. It’s still possible but very unlikely.”