Several Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes Delta Flight into Sydney, Australia
A number of individuals were hurt after a Delta flight traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced rough air this past Friday.
Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier stated. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service stated they evaluated five patients, and took three to the hospital with relatively minor issues that included pain in the back and headaches. Those affected ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.
The event represents the latest incident of aircraft being hit by severe turbulence, with aviation specialists indicating that global warming is a major factor.
On board were 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson noted, adding that the plane arrived "safely" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.
Paramedics said they received a call just three minutes prior to the plane landed, and response teams were standing by on the runway.
Why plane turbulence is growing more common - and more severe.
During the past year, 25 people were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "severe" rough air just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and diverted for an precautionary landing.
Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a terrifying brief five-second period of extreme instability. An individual passed away and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.
In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while occurrences of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.
Research indicates that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a total of over 35 million aircraft departures that now take off worldwide.
Severe turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a plane experiencing disturbed air apply greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.
As a changing climate shifts weather patterns, researchers alert that air travel could become bumpier: warming trends and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are projected to heighten the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.
