Several Injured as Rough Air Impacts A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney
Several people have been injured when a Delta Airlines flight originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia experienced significant turbulence this past Friday.
The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson informed. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they assessed five patients, and took three to hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised pain in the back and head pain. The patients' ages ranged from their thirties and seventies.
The event represents the newest example of commercial jets being hit by turbulence, with researchers pointing out that global warming is a key driver.
There were 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson said, clarifying that the plane landed "safely" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.
Paramedics reported they received a call just a mere three minutes prior to the plane landed, and response teams were standing by on the runway.
Why in-flight bumpiness is getting increasingly prevalent - and more severe.
Last year, 25 people were injured when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.
Recently, travelers and staff on a certain international flight endured a harrowing brief five-second period of extreme instability. An individual passed away and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and were slammed back.
Turbulence is fairly routine during flights, and while cases of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.
Research indicates that there are approximately thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a overall number of more than 35 million journeys that now take off worldwide.
Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the sudden jolts of a jet going through disturbed air apply more than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.
As global warming modifies weather patterns, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become bumpier: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are projected to increase the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.
