A Number of Hurt as Turbulence Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Arriving in Sydney, Australia
A number of individuals have been injured when a Delta Airlines jet originating in LA to Sydney was hit by significant turbulence this past Friday.
Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official informed. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they treated a total of five people, and transported three to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that included back pain and head pain. The injured spanned from their thirties and seventies.
It is the newest example of aircraft encountering atmospheric disturbance, with researchers indicating that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.
The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson noted, stating that the plane arrived "without further incident" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.
Emergency responders indicated they received a call just a mere three minutes before the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.
Why plane turbulence is getting more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.
Last year, 25 people sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" turbulence just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and diverted for an unscheduled landing.
Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a terrifying five seconds period of extreme instability. A traveler lost their life and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.
In-flight turbulence is fairly routine during flights, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.
Estimates show that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a total of more than 35 million flights that now take off worldwide.
Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the up and down movements of a plane going through unstable air exert greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a seatbelt.
As global warming alters atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that flying could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are likely to boost the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.
