Find My iPhone Locates Chilean Airplane Crash

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Posted September 8, 2011 at 12:12am by iClarified

A military airplane crash in Chile this weekend was located with help from Find My iPhone, reports Gizmodo. The plane disappeared from radar and authorities were initially not able to find the CASA 212.

The crash point was located thanks to one of the victims' relatives. The victim had an active iPhone at the time of the crash. Presumably out of desperation, the relative tried the Find My iPhone feature that Apple offers for iOS devices. Surprisingly, the phone appeared on the map in the computer, according to one of the military officials in charge of the search operation

The crash is thought to have been extreme because none of the aircraft pieces collected thus far have been bigger than 50 centimeters (20 inches). The plane was carrying 21 passengers; however, only the bodies of four individuals have been found so far. Due to poor weather conditions search teams are using two Proteus 1000 robots but military divers will start as soon as the conditions clear up.

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Find My iPhone Locates Chilean Airplane Crash

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iPhonejohnny - September 8, 2011 at 3:49am

Now How does that work? if the iphone gets wet, doesn't it make it inoperable ?

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Jeff - September 8, 2011 at 4:39am

Agreed, this story is BS. I highly doubt he would have had service flying over the ocean in Chile to broadcast the location too...

musshardi - September 8, 2011 at 6:18am

no, find my iphone able to locate the last location iphone operated

Alejandro Iván - September 8, 2011 at 6:38am

I'm chilean and I've heard a lot about this. Find My iPhone sends the LAST position recognized for the device. The crash occurs after 2 failed landings, so it's not impossible for this to happen.

MrEdofCourse - September 8, 2011 at 7:32am

This story is BS, and it's been picked up on several blogs. While the articles state that Find My iPhone reveals the last known location, it simply doesn't work that way. Try it yourself. Shut down your iPhone and try locating it. It will tell you that it can't be located. Additionally, the plane was never "lost". It crashed and broke into many small pieces that spread across a wide area. Authorities believe some bodies may never be recovered.

Lico - September 8, 2011 at 7:53am

Well, if 'find my iPhone' was able to find the last location of that iPhone, that means the iPhone was ON and that means it had its signal also ON and NOT in plane mode... meaning the iPhone might have been the cause of the pane crash!!! gulp!!!

AlexH - September 8, 2011 at 2:09pm

Actually the story is true, and the signal received from an iPhone is a fact. The thing is that there is Cell Network coverage in the island, and since the aircraft was doing circles around the island the iPhone most likely could have sent its location. Certainly it was on and "Airplane mode Off".

Jeso - September 8, 2011 at 2:48pm

I have witnessed an iPhone still in operation of a full night in a lake.. It was too dark out so we got it in the morning.... And it was still on.. The backlight didnt work.. But it still made calls