Several Affected as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Plane into Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries after a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered significant turbulence on Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier told. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

Emergency medical services stated they assessed a total of five people, and took three of them to the hospital with relatively minor issues that included pain in the back and head pain. The patients' ages ranged from their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the latest incident of aircraft encountering turbulence, with aviation specialists saying that shifting climate patterns is a significant contributor.

There were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the representative added, adding that the plane arrived "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders reported they were alerted just three minutes prior to the plane landed, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more common - and often stronger.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and diverted for an emergency landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a terrifying brief five-second period of extreme instability. A traveler lost their life and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine during flights, and while instances of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are an estimated thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence every year, out of a sum of over 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the up and down movements of a aircraft going through disturbed air apply more than a significant G-force on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.

As global warming shifts the conditions in the sky, experts warn that flying could become more turbulent: warming trends and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are expected to heighten the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.