Several Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts A Delta Airlines Aircraft Landing at Sydney
Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta aircraft originating in Los Angeles to Sydney encountered significant turbulence this past Friday.
Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier told. Several cabin crew members were injured.
Emergency medical services said they evaluated five patients, and transported three of them to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that such as back pain and migraines. Those affected ranged from their 30s to 70s.
It is the newest example of commercial jets being hit by severe turbulence, with experts pointing out that climate change is a key driver.
The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the representative noted, adding that the plane arrived "safely" at the airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.
The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they got a call just a mere three minutes ahead of the plane arrived, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.
Why in-flight bumpiness is getting increasingly prevalent - and often stronger.
In the previous year, two dozen individuals were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "considerable" rough air just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and diverted for an unscheduled landing.
Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a terrifying five seconds bout of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and fell back down.
Turbulence is fairly routine during flights, and while instances of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.
Data suggests that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a total of over 35 million journeys that now take off worldwide.
Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the up and down movements of a aircraft experiencing unstable air apply in excess of a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.
As global warming modifies the conditions in the sky, experts warn that flying could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are expected to increase the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.
