Several Injured as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney
A number of individuals sustained injuries when a Delta jet from LA to Sydney experienced significant turbulence this past Friday.
Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson informed. A number of the onboard staff were injured.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service stated they treated a total of five people, and took three to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that included pain in the back and migraines. The patients' ages were between their 30s up to the 70s.
It is the newest example of aircraft being hit by severe turbulence, with researchers saying that climate change is a significant contributor.
On board were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson added, adding that the plane landed "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.
Paramedics reported they received a call just three minutes before the plane landed, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.
Why plane turbulence is growing more common - and more severe.
In the previous year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "significant" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an unscheduled landing.
Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a terrifying brief five-second period of extreme instability. An individual lost their life and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.
Turbulence is a common occurrence while flying, and while occurrences of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.
Estimates show that there are approximately thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a total of more than 35 million flights that now take off around the world.
Severe turbulence is defined as when the up and down movements of a aircraft passing through disturbed air generate more than a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.
As global warming modifies weather patterns, researchers alert that air travel could become more turbulent: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are projected to heighten the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.