Several Hurt as Rough Air Strikes Delta Plane Landing at Sydney
Multiple passengers and crew have been injured when a Delta aircraft originating in LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by turbulence on Friday morning.
Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a company official stated. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.
Local paramedics said they treated five individuals, and took a trio to a medical facility with minor injuries that comprised back pain and migraines. The injured ranged from their thirties and seventies.
This marks the newest example of planes experiencing severe turbulence, with experts pointing out that global warming is a significant contributor.
The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the representative noted, stating that the plane touched down "safely" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.
The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they got a call just a mere three minutes before the plane touched down, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.
Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more common - and more severe.
During the past year, 25 people sustained injuries when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "significant" atmospheric disturbance just two hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.
Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a certain international flight went through a terrifying five seconds period of extreme instability. A traveler died and numerous people sustained injuries, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.
Turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while cases of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.
Estimates show that there are around thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a overall number of over 35 million flights that are conducted around the world.
Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the up and down movements of a jet experiencing disturbed 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 global warming modifies weather patterns, specialists caution that air travel could become bumpier: warming trends and altered air currents in the jet stream level are likely to boost the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.
