Several Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney
A number of individuals have been injured when a Delta aircraft traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered significant turbulence this past Friday.
Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official stated. Four flight attendants were injured.
Emergency medical services said they assessed five patients, and took three of them to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that included spinal discomfort and head pain. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.
It is the latest incident of aircraft being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with experts indicating that global warming is a significant contributor.
There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the representative said, stating that the plane touched down "safely" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.
The NSW Ambulance Service reported they received a call just three minutes ahead of the plane landed, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.
Why in-flight bumpiness is getting increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.
During the past year, two dozen individuals were injured when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "considerable" turbulence just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an emergency landing.
Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a frightening five seconds bout of severe turbulence. An individual lost their life and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.
In-flight turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while cases of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are remained quite uncommon.
Research indicates that there are an estimated thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a total of over 35 million journeys that now take off globally.
Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft experiencing unstable air apply more than a significant G-force on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a seatbelt.
As global warming shifts the conditions in the sky, experts warn that commercial aviation could become bumpier: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are likely to boost the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.
