Multiple Affected as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Aircraft Landing at Sydney
A number of individuals were hurt following a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by turbulence Friday morning.
Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier stated. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.
Emergency medical services said they treated five patients, and transferred a trio to a medical facility with minor injuries that included pain in the back and head pain. The injured were between their 30s to 70s.
It is the latest incident of planes encountering turbulence, with aviation specialists indicating that climate change is a significant contributor.
On board were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the Airbus A350, the official noted, adding that the plane arrived "safely" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.
The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they were alerted just three minutes prior to the plane touched down, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.
The reasons turbulence is becoming more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.
During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" turbulence just two hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an precautionary landing.
Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a terrifying brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and fell back down.
Turbulence is not uncommon while flying, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.
Estimates show that there are around thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a total of more than 35 million journeys that currently occur worldwide.
Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the up and down movements of a jet going through unstable air generate more than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.
As climate change alters weather patterns, specialists caution that air travel could become less smooth: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are projected to increase the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.
