While the iPad is undoubtedly a sales success, many people will inevitably have dropped their own, potentially damaging or breaking it. What probably has not been tried before, however, is dropping your iPad from 100,000 feet. G-Form have decided to see if this is possible for the iPad to survive, as Neowin user FMH reported to us on the forums.
This is not the first time that G-Form have shown the extreme strength of their cases. Previously, the company has attempted to push their MacBook Pro case beyond its limits. Their attempt involved dropping an Apple MacBook Pro from a balcony, while protected in one of their cases. Another test G-Form performed involved a moving car and an iPad 2 in one of their cases. While the chances of this kind of damage happening are slim, the confidence the company places in their products is impressive. We can likely all agree the chances of leaving our iPad 2 on a road, or doing work with a laptop on a balcony are slim, but now G-Form are back with their most extreme test yet.
The company took an iPad and one of their cases for it, and then decided to repeat their MacBook Pro test - from 100,000 feet. For reference this is approximately 30.48 kilometres, meaning the iPad fell from the stratosphere in its descent to earth. The drop is only slightly shorter than the highest parachute drop ever recorded, which was from slightly over 102,000 feet, and was performed by Joseph Kittinger in 1960 as part of Project Excelsior. Both Kittinger and the iPad tested by G-Form managed to reach an altitude higher than the famous SR-71 plane, which first appeared in 1966.
The company filmed the descent of the iPad in HD, and this can be watched below. As is usual for unusual videos on the internet, some comments aim to disprove the legitimacy of what is shown. As always, take these with some consideration but do not put too much faith in their accuracy.