A Number of Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes Delta Plane Landing at Sydney
A number of individuals were hurt when a Delta flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered significant turbulence on Friday morning.
Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official stated. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they treated five individuals, and took a trio to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that included spinal discomfort and head pain. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.
It is the newest example of commercial jets experiencing severe turbulence, with experts pointing out that climate change is a significant contributor.
On board were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the official added, stating that the plane arrived "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.
Paramedics reported they received a call just a mere three minutes before the plane touched down, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.
Why in-flight bumpiness is growing more common - and potentially more dangerous.
During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, encountered "considerable" turbulence just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an emergency landing.
Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a terrifying brief five-second of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and fell back down.
Turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while instances of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.
Estimates show that there are approximately 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a total of more than 35 million journeys that currently occur around the world.
Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the vertical motions of a jet experiencing unstable air apply in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.
As climate change shifts weather patterns, researchers alert that air travel could become less smooth: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are likely to heighten the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.