Wichita Falls, Texas - After falling 9,300 feet from a Beechcraft Bonanza airplane, a lost iPhone not only reported its location but laid out a map where owner Ben Wilson could find it. 
 
 Even better, it could still make and receive calls. 
 
 “It was by the side of the road south of Jacksboro, under a mesquite tree,” said Wilson, chuckling. “The donkey pointed out where it was.” 
 
 It is a real Texas story. Monday afternoon Wilson, owner of Gas Corp. of America and pilot Will Warnock were on their way back from Houston to Kickapoo Airport when pressure change caused a door latch on the passenger side to give way by 3 inches. 
 
 “The pressure popped and a newspaper flew out but I didn’t see the phone go. After we got back I looked for it on the floor (of the plane) and in my briefcase but couldn’t find it,” Wilson said. 
 
 “I met Ben at the airport and we checked for the phone, even wondered if it might have been left in a rental car. We used his Find My iPhone app and learned it was still alive,” said John Kidwell, Gas Corp.’s vice president of sales. “Later I checked the iCloud and could see it was outside of Joplin (Texas).” Joplin is a wide spot in the road ain rural Jack County. 
 
 With a satellite image and good map in hand, the two set out early Tuesday to find the missing cell. Guided down a ranch road, Bill soon was going over a fence to find it. 
 
 That’s when Wilson met a friendly donkey who followed as he searched the pasture. Soon they found the phone. 
 
 The donkey earned gingersnaps. 
 
 “It was in one piece, scratched a bit on the corners but it still worked,” said Wilson, as surprised as he was happy about the durable mophie battery charger case. 
 
 “It hit the corners a bit and but it’s just fine,” said Kidwell. “The only missing part is the battery.” ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. SUBSCRIBE 
 
 After Ben Wilson's iPhone fell out of the plane he was piloting at 9,300 feet in the air, he assumed he'd never see the device again. But he tracked the device to a pasture 90 miles away, and found it in perfect working condition ... with the help of a donkey. 
 
 Wilson, the owner of natural-gas equipment company Gas Corporation of America, didn't intend to test the durability of his iPhone or protective case. He was flying his Beechcraft Bonanza single-engine plane from Houston to his home in Wichita Falls, Texas, this week when his door suddenly opened about three inches mid-flight. 
 
 "That'll wake you up," Wilson, 74, said dryly in an interview with NBC News conducted via the fallen iPhone on Friday. "My Wall Street Journal got sucked out of the plane, and I just kept flying because we were close to home." 
 
 Once he'd landed safely in Wichita Falls, Wilson realized his iPhone was missing too. It must have been wrapped in the Journal, he reasoned, and he assumed the device was simply gone. The Wichita Falls Times Record first reported Wilson's story. 
 
 But Wilson's stepson, John Kidwell -- who is also the vice president of sales at Gas Corp. -- pulled up the "Find My iPhone" app on his own phone and was amazed to see Wilson's device pop up on a map. The iPhone was sitting somewhere in tiny Joplin, Texas. 
 
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 Determined to retrieve Wilson's iPhone -- along with 250 contact numbers and 1,000 photos he didn't want to lose -- Wilson and Kidwell got in the car the next morning and drove the 90 miles from Wichita Falls to Joplin. Kidwell traced the signal to a fenced-in pasture, and the hunt began. 
 
 "I climbed the fence and this donkey trotted up to me and looked me right in the eyes," Wilson said. "He would not leave our sides. I think he was trying to help us find the phone."
– In what might be the most incredible iPhone testimonial ever, a Texas man has revealed that his iPhone still works—an iPhone that happened to fall out of an airplane and tumble 9,300 feet into a pasture. Ben Wilson, 74, explains that he was en route from Houston to Kickapoo Airport midday Monday when a pressure change affected a door latch on the Beechcraft Bonanza plane. He saw his Wall Street Journal fly out the gap; when they landed, he realized his phone was MIA. The Find My iPhone app revealed it was alive and well some 90 miles away outside of Joplin, and Wilson—owner of Gas Corp. of America—and his VP of sales (who is also his stepson) set off from Wichita Falls to retrieve it on Tuesday. Their journey took them down a ranch road, over a fence, past a friendly donkey, and to a mesquite tree, reports the Times Record News. Beneath that tree was the phone, "in one piece, scratched a bit on the corners but it still worked," says Wilson. He tells NBC News the screen wasn't shattered, and only one element was missing: a protective case that contained an external battery. Wilson says he confirmed the distance his iPhone fell thanks to another bit of technology: the flight-tracking site FlightAware, which provided his altitude. (Another odd iPhone-related story: A man was arrested earlier this month for charging his iPhone on a London train.)