Several Injured as Turbulence Hits Delta Aircraft Landing at Sydney
A number of individuals have been injured when a Delta Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Sydney encountered rough air Friday morning.
Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official told. A number of the onboard staff were injured.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service stated they assessed five patients, and took three of them to a medical facility with minor injuries that such as back pain and migraines. Those affected spanned from their 30s up to the 70s.
The event represents the most recent case of planes encountering atmospheric disturbance, with researchers indicating that shifting climate patterns is a significant contributor.
The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the representative noted, adding that the plane touched down "safely" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.
Emergency responders said they received a call just a mere three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and response teams were standing by on the runway.
Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more common - and often stronger.
Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" turbulence just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.
Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a harrowing five seconds bout of severe turbulence. An individual lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and fell back down.
Bumpy air is fairly routine during flights, and while occurrences of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.
Estimates show that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a total of over 35 million flights that currently occur worldwide.
Severe turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a plane passing through unstable air generate greater than a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.
As climate change shifts the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that flying could become bumpier: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are projected to heighten the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.
