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The airline has been testing a NASA-developed automated turbulence reporting system on over 80 aircraft.

Air turbulence doesn't have a lot of fans among flight crews or their passengers. Nearly 60 people per year on average incur turbulence-related injuries in-flight. And almost all of those injuries happen to passengers who are not strapped in to their seats.

"Pilots describe turbulence encounters over their radios and by text reports called Pilot Reports (PIREPS). They tend to under-report when they encounter rough air, because they're busy trying to fly through or around it," said NASA's Turbulence Prediction and Warning Systems project manager, Jim Watson, in a statement.

NASA created the Turbulence Auto-PIREPS System (TAPS) to use existing aircraft systems to gather and report on turbulence. It sends that data to other airplanes and to computers on the ground. The reporting happens in real-time and gives air traffic controllers and other pilots the information needed to avoid turbulent areas.

"In addition to its obvious safety benefits, the system may potentially identify areas of airspace that would otherwise be blocked from traffic because of the inadequate turbulence detection tools that we possess today," said Bill Watts, the turbulence program manager for Delta Air Lines.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.