A Number of Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes Delta Plane Landing at Sydney, Australia
Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta jet traveling from LA to Sydney experienced significant turbulence this past Friday.
Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a company official told. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.
Emergency medical services reported they treated five individuals, and took three to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that such as spinal discomfort and headaches. The injured were between their 30s up to the 70s.
This marks the most recent case of aircraft experiencing atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists saying that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.
The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the representative noted, stating that the plane landed "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.
The NSW Ambulance Service said they received a call just a mere three minutes before the plane touched down, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.
The reasons turbulence is getting more frequent - and often stronger.
Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" turbulence just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.
Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a terrifying brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. An individual died and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and fell back down.
In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence while flying, and while occurrences of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are still very rare.
Data suggests that there are an estimated five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a total of more than 35 million journeys that are conducted worldwide.
Intense turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a jet passing through disturbed air exert greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.
As global warming alters the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that air travel could become bumpier: temperature changes and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are likely to increase the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.