Several Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts A Delta Airlines Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia
Several people have been injured after a Delta Airlines flight traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by significant turbulence Friday morning.
Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier informed. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.
Emergency medical services reported they treated five individuals, and transferred three to hospital with relatively minor issues that such as spinal discomfort and head pain. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.
It is the newest example of commercial jets experiencing atmospheric disturbance, with experts saying that climate change is a key driver.
The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the official noted, adding that the plane touched down "safely" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.
Paramedics reported they received a call just a mere three minutes ahead of the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.
Why plane turbulence is growing more common - and potentially more dangerous.
In the previous year, two dozen individuals were injured when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" turbulence just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an unscheduled landing.
Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a frightening five seconds of severe turbulence. A traveler passed away and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.
Bumpy air is fairly routine during flights, and while occurrences of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.
Estimates show that there are around thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a sum of in excess of 35 million journeys that currently occur globally.
Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the vertical motions of a jet going through unstable air exert in excess of a significant G-force on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.
As climate change alters the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that flying could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are projected to increase the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.
