Multiple Hurt as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney, Australia
Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney encountered turbulence Friday morning.
Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a company official stated. Four flight attendants were injured.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they treated a total of five people, and took a trio to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that included spinal discomfort and migraines. The patients' ages were between their 30s up to the 70s.
This marks the latest incident of commercial jets experiencing severe turbulence, with researchers saying that climate change is a significant contributor.
On board were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the representative added, adding that the plane arrived "safely" at the airport at 06:48 local time on Friday.
Emergency responders said they got a call just only 180 seconds before the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.
Why plane turbulence is becoming more common - and more severe.
During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "significant" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the lengthy trip, and had to make an unscheduled landing.
Recently, passengers and crew on a certain international flight experienced a frightening short but intense bout of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.
Bumpy air is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are remained quite uncommon.
Data suggests that there are around five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a sum of over 35 million flights that now take off worldwide.
Severe turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a plane passing through rough air masses apply greater than 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.
As a changing climate shifts atmospheric conditions, experts warn that commercial aviation could become less smooth: temperature changes and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are projected to increase the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.
