Several Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts A Delta Airlines Flight Arriving in Sydney
A number of individuals sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines aircraft from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced significant turbulence Friday morning.
Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier informed. A number of the onboard staff sustained injuries.
Local paramedics reported they evaluated five individuals, and transferred a trio to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and head pain. Those affected spanned from their 30s to 70s.
This marks the latest incident of commercial jets experiencing severe turbulence, with experts indicating that climate change is a key driver.
There were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the Airbus A350, the official added, adding that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.
Paramedics said they received a call just only 180 seconds before the plane touched down, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.
Why plane turbulence is getting more frequent - and more severe.
In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "considerable" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an unscheduled landing.
Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a terrifying five seconds of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.
Bumpy air is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.
Research indicates that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a total of over 35 million journeys that now take off globally.
Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the vertical motions of a aircraft experiencing disturbed air apply greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.
As global warming modifies atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that flying could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are likely to heighten the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.
