Multiple Hurt as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney, Australia
Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries following a Delta jet originating in Los Angeles to Sydney was hit by rough air this past Friday.
The flight, numbered 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a company official informed. A number of the onboard staff were injured.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they evaluated five individuals, and transferred three to hospital with relatively minor issues that such as back pain and head pain. Those affected were between their 30s up to the 70s.
It is the newest example of aircraft experiencing turbulence, with aviation specialists saying that climate change is a major factor.
The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the representative added, stating that the plane landed "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.
The NSW Ambulance Service said they got a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.
Why plane turbulence is getting more frequent - and more severe.
During the past year, two dozen individuals were injured when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.
Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a terrifying brief five-second of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.
Turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.
Estimates show that there are around thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a sum of more than 35 million flights that currently occur worldwide.
Intense turbulence is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a plane going through rough air masses exert more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.
As climate change alters weather patterns, researchers alert that flying could become more turbulent: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the higher altitudes are likely to increase the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.
