Several Hurt as Rough Air Impacts Delta Aircraft into Sydney, Australia
A number of individuals have been injured following a Delta jet originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by significant turbulence this past Friday.
Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson stated. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.
Emergency medical services reported they treated a total of five people, and transferred three of them to hospital with minor injuries that such as spinal discomfort and migraines. The patients' ages spanned from their 30s to 70s.
This marks the latest incident of aircraft being hit by severe turbulence, with experts indicating that global warming is a key driver.
There were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the official noted, stating that the plane landed "safely and normally" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.
Emergency responders indicated they were alerted just a mere three minutes prior to the plane touched down, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.
The reasons turbulence is getting increasingly prevalent - and more severe.
Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "significant" turbulence just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and had to make an precautionary landing.
Recently, passengers and crew on a certain international flight experienced a terrifying brief five-second of severe turbulence. An individual died and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and crashed back down.
Bumpy air is fairly routine while flying, and while instances of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.
Research indicates that there are around five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted worldwide.
Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the sudden jolts of a plane going through unstable air exert in excess of a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.
As climate change shifts atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that air travel could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are likely to increase the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.
