Several Injured as Rough Air Strikes Delta Plane into Sydney
Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries following a Delta flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia experienced turbulence on Friday morning.
Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier informed. Several cabin crew members were injured.
Local paramedics said they assessed five individuals, and transferred three to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that included back pain and headaches. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.
It is the latest incident of planes being hit by severe turbulence, with aviation specialists indicating that climate change is a major factor.
On board were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the representative added, adding that the plane touched down "safely" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.
Emergency responders indicated they were alerted just three minutes before the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.
Why plane turbulence is becoming more common - and more severe.
Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "considerable" turbulence just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.
Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a terrifying five seconds period of extreme instability. A traveler lost their life and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and were slammed back.
Turbulence is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while instances of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.
Data suggests that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence every year, out of a sum of more than 35 million journeys that now take off worldwide.
Severe turbulence is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft passing through rough air masses apply greater than a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.
As a changing climate modifies weather patterns, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become less smooth: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are projected to heighten the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.
