A Number of Hurt as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Flight Arriving in Sydney, Australia
Multiple passengers and crew have been injured following a Delta jet traveling from LA to Sydney encountered turbulence on Friday morning.
Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier told. Four flight attendants required medical attention.
Emergency medical services reported they evaluated a total of five people, and transported a trio to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised pain in the back and head pain. The injured ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.
It is the latest incident of aircraft experiencing turbulence, with experts saying that climate change is a major factor.
On board were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson added, clarifying that the plane landed "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.
Paramedics said they received a call just only 180 seconds prior to the plane arrived, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.
Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming more frequent - and more severe.
In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "significant" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.
Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a harrowing five seconds bout of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.
Turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.
Estimates show that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a sum of over 35 million journeys that currently occur around the world.
Intense turbulence is described as when the vertical motions of a plane experiencing disturbed air apply in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a restraint.
As climate change alters the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that air travel could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.