From the comp.risk newsgroup:

From: umn-cs!rosevax!herman!sps@RUTGERS.EDU (Steve Skabrat)
Subject: A new kind of computer crash
Date: 9 Nov 87 19:49:13 GMT
Organization: Unisys Inc.-CSD  Eagan,MN

I read the following in the Minneapolis Tribune, Monday, 9 Nov 1987:

  Portable Computer Falls Out of Airlink Jet    Oshkosh, WI (Associated Press) 
   
  Usually a computer "crash" is caused by a malfunction in the machine.  But
  when Ron Olstad's computer crashed last week, it really crashed.
  
  Olstad arrived in Oshkosh on a Northwest Airlink flight from Minneapolis
  about 3 p.m. Thursday and noticed that his portable computer was not among
  the luggage unloaded from the plane.
   
  At about the same time, Ronald Miller's neighbors found Olstad's 50-pound
  computer - or what was left of it - in Miller's back yard in Oshkosh.
   
  Robert Schoenfelder, Oshkosh manager for Northwest Airlink, said Saturday
  night that the port door of the airplane was open during the flight and that
  the computer fell out as the plane was making its final approach to Wittman
  Field.
   
  Schoenfelder said it is the first time that he knows of that a piece of      
  luggage has fallen out of a plane of Northwest Airlink, which is a contract
  carrier for Northwest Airlines. He said Northwest Airlink replaced Olstad's
  computer.
   
  Miller's neighbors say they weren't startled when they heard a loud crash
  and saw papers flying around Miller's back yard.
   
  Two nearby elementary schools were letting out at the time and the neighbors
  thought it was just noisy students. It turned out to be Olstad's computer.
   
  "I noticed a branch had fallen and there were papers flying all over the 
  back yard," said Adeline Heyer. "I didn't hear anything, but after looking
  a little closer I noticed the case."
   
  Miller had been gone and learned of the incident Friday.
  
  "There were papers scattered in the back yard and this big green thing,"
  he said. The computer, which was in a canvas case, was destroyed.

My first reaction upon reading this was to laugh.  My second was to wonder
if any parents in the neighborhood thought they should have prepared their
children to live in the area surrounding an airport by issuing them crash
helmets.