Several Affected as Rough Air Hits Delta Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia
Several people have been injured after a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by rough air Friday morning.
Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier informed. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.
Emergency medical services said they assessed a total of five people, and transferred three to a medical facility with minor injuries that comprised back pain and migraines. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.
It is the most recent case of commercial jets encountering atmospheric disturbance, with experts pointing out that climate change is a key driver.
There were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson added, clarifying that the plane landed "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.
The NSW Ambulance Service said they got a call just three minutes ahead of the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.
Why plane turbulence is getting more common - and often stronger.
During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "considerable" rough air just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an emergency landing.
Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a frightening five seconds period of extreme instability. A traveler died and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.
Bumpy air is fairly routine during flights, and while occurrences of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.
Data suggests that there are around 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a overall number of more than 35 million journeys that are conducted globally.
Severe turbulence is defined as when the vertical motions of a plane experiencing rough air masses apply more than a significant G-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.
As a changing climate alters weather patterns, specialists caution that flying could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the jet stream level are expected to increase the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.
