Apple Watch fall alert

A Place to Share Experiences and Discuss Aviation Stories
Forum rules
You must be a member of the Cessna 120-140 Association in order to post new topics, reply to existing topics, or search for information on this forum. Use the "Join" link in the red menu bar.
Post Reply
User avatar
6843
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue May 01, 2018 7:00 am
Name: Dave Sirota
Location: Tucson
Aircraft Type: C-140
Occupation-Interests:
Contact:

Apple Watch fall alert

Post by 6843 »

Hi Everyone, Hope you had a good holiday. Thought I'd let you know about an experience I had last week. I wear an Apple Watch and one of the features is a fall alert (a g-meter I assume). I was flying last week and my watch sent a message to my emergency contacts saying I had a "hard fall" and it provided my location on a map. I don't recall hitting my watch against anything, no significant bumps, and (for those that know me) it was a pretty good landing. My girlfriend received the alert, knew I was flying, and assumed I had crashed. She freaked out and called my airplane partner, who in-turn, called the tower to see if they were talking to me. They weren't - Search & Rescue was dispatched. All this time I was fat, dumb, and happy enjoying a flight to nowhere. It took quite a while after I landed to get everyone back to a normal heart rate.

The Hard Fall feature is a good thing and might act as a back-up to an ELT but it can cause A LOT of unnecessary worry and stress. To avoid a repeat, I bought a Spot Messenger. The girlfriend now knows to see if I'm moving on the Spot map if she gets another SOS alert. If I'm still moving faster than a walk, I'm probably still flying.

I hope this story helps others from having a similar experience.

Happy New Year,
Dave
Dave Sirota
'46 C-140 N89654
'96 Hatz N24B
KRYN
6863
Posts: 139
Joined: Tue May 01, 2018 7:00 am
Name: John Kliewer
Location: EWK Newton, KS
Aircraft Type:
Occupation-Interests: Corporate PIlot - retired
Contact:

Re: Apple Watch fall alert

Post by 6863 »

Hey Dave glad it was a false alarm and that you're ok. Thank for informing us. It's valuable information to know.

I'm now going to need to consider whether as long as I am flying I want the combination of both an Apple Watch and a girlfriend. My current watch features only the actual numbers 1 through 12 and doesn't communicate with my wife who is also my girlfriend. Life is good so far, knock on wood. :D
John Kliewer

"Make things as simple as possible but no simpler." Albert Einstiein

"Wheels move the body. Wings move the soul."
8474
Posts: 313
Joined: Sat May 25, 2019 12:08 pm
Name: Blaine F
Location: Saskatchewan
Aircraft Type: C140A
Occupation-Interests: Helicopter Pilot
Contact:

Re: Apple Watch fall alert

Post by 8474 »

6863 wrote: Wed Dec 30, 2020 5:44 pm Hey Dave glad it was a false alarm and that you're ok. Thank for informing us. It's valuable information to know.

I'm now going to need to consider whether as long as I am flying I want the combination of both an Apple Watch and a girlfriend. My current watch features only the actual numbers 1 through 12 and doesn't communicate with my wife who is also my girlfriend. Life is good so far, knock on wood. :D
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Post Reply