Multiple Injured as Rough Air Impacts Delta Flight Landing at Sydney
Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney was hit by turbulence on Friday morning.
Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier informed. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they assessed five individuals, and took three of them to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that included back pain and head pain. Those affected spanned from their 30s to 70s.
The event represents the most recent case of planes encountering turbulence, with aviation specialists pointing out that climate change is a significant contributor.
On board were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the representative noted, stating that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.
The NSW Ambulance Service said they received a call just only 180 seconds before the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.
Why plane turbulence is growing more common - and more severe.
In the previous year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "severe" turbulence just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.
Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a terrifying five seconds period of extreme instability. An individual died and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.
Turbulence is not uncommon during flights, and while instances of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.
Data suggests that there are approximately thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a total of over 35 million flights that now take off worldwide.
Severe turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a jet going through unstable air apply greater than a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.
As climate change modifies weather patterns, specialists caution that air travel could become more turbulent: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are projected to boost the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.
