A Number of Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Hits Delta Aircraft Landing at Sydney
A number of individuals sustained injuries following a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney experienced rough air 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. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.
Local paramedics said they evaluated a total of five people, and took three of them to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that included back pain and headaches. The injured were between their 30s up to the 70s.
This marks the newest example of aircraft encountering severe turbulence, with aviation specialists pointing out that global warming is a key driver.
The aircraft was carrying 245 people and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson said, clarifying that the plane touched down "safely" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday.
Emergency responders said they received a call just three minutes before the plane arrived, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.
Why plane turbulence is becoming more frequent - and more severe.
In the previous year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "significant" turbulence just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and diverted for an emergency landing.
Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a frightening five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger passed away and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and were slammed back.
Turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while instances of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.
Data suggests that there are approximately 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a total of over 35 million aircraft departures that now take off globally.
Severe turbulence is categorized as when the up and down movements of a aircraft passing through unstable air generate greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.
As climate change modifies atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that flying could become bumpier: warming trends and altered air currents in the jet stream level are projected to boost the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.
