A Number of Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney, Australia
A number of individuals sustained injuries after a Delta aircraft traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney encountered significant turbulence this past Friday.
Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier told. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.
Local paramedics said they assessed five individuals, and transported a trio to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that such as pain in the back and head pain. The injured spanned from their thirties and seventies.
The event represents the newest example of planes experiencing atmospheric disturbance, with researchers pointing out that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.
The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the representative noted, adding that the plane arrived "safely" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.
Paramedics reported they got a call just only 180 seconds prior to the plane touched down, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.
The reasons turbulence is getting more frequent - and more severe.
In the previous year, 25 people sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "severe" turbulence just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an unscheduled landing.
Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a terrifying five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.
In-flight turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.
Research indicates that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur around the world.
Severe turbulence is categorized as when the vertical motions of a jet going through unstable air apply in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.
As a changing climate alters weather patterns, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become less smooth: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are likely to increase the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.
