Several Affected as Rough Air Impacts Delta Plane into Sydney
Multiple passengers and crew have been injured following a Delta Airlines aircraft from LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by turbulence this past Friday.
The flight, numbered 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson informed. A number of the onboard staff were injured.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they assessed five individuals, and took a trio to hospital with relatively minor issues that such as spinal discomfort and migraines. Those affected were between their thirties and seventies.
The event represents the newest example of commercial jets encountering atmospheric disturbance, with researchers saying that climate change is a significant contributor.
On board were nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the official said, adding that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.
Emergency responders indicated they got a call just three minutes prior to the plane touched down, and response teams were standing by on the runway.
Why plane turbulence is getting increasingly prevalent - and often stronger.
In the previous year, 25 people sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, experienced "severe" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.
Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a frightening brief five-second period of extreme instability. A traveler passed away and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.
Bumpy air is not uncommon during flights, and while cases of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.
Research indicates that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a overall number of more than 35 million journeys that now take off worldwide.
Severe turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft passing through disturbed air apply in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.
As a changing climate shifts the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become bumpier: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are likely to increase the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.
