A Number of Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes A Delta Airlines Aircraft Landing at Sydney
Several people sustained injuries after a Delta Airlines aircraft from LA to Sydney encountered rough air this past Friday.
The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson stated. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.
Local paramedics said they assessed a total of five people, and transferred three to hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised back pain and migraines. The injured spanned from their thirties and seventies.
It is the newest example of commercial jets encountering turbulence, with researchers saying that global warming is a major factor.
On board were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the representative noted, adding that the plane landed "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.
The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they were alerted just a mere three minutes before the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.
Why in-flight bumpiness is growing more common - and potentially more dangerous.
In the previous year, 25 people were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" rough air just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.
Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a certain international flight endured a harrowing brief five-second of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers lifted 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 seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.
Estimates show that there are around five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a sum of more than 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted around the world.
Severe turbulence is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a plane experiencing rough air masses apply in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.
As a changing climate shifts the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that air travel could become less smooth: warming trends and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are likely to increase the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.