Multiple Hurt as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Plane into Sydney, Australia
Multiple passengers and crew have been injured after a Delta flight from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced significant turbulence this past Friday.
The flight, numbered 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, a company official told. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service stated they treated a total of five people, and took three of them to hospital with relatively minor issues that such as back pain and headaches. The injured spanned from their 30s to 70s.
This marks the newest example of commercial jets experiencing severe turbulence, with aviation specialists pointing out that global warming is a major factor.
On board were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson added, stating that the plane touched down "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.
Paramedics said they received a call just three minutes prior to the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.
The reasons turbulence is growing more common - and more severe.
Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "significant" turbulence just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an unscheduled landing.
Earlier this year, those on board on a certain international flight went through a harrowing brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and were slammed back.
Turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are remained quite uncommon.
Research indicates that there are around five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted around the world.
Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the vertical motions of a plane experiencing rough air masses exert more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.
As global warming modifies weather patterns, experts warn that commercial aviation could become more turbulent: warming trends and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are expected to heighten the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.
