Multiple Injured as Turbulence Hits A Delta Airlines Aircraft into Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries after a Delta Airlines flight traveling from LA to Sydney was hit by rough air Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a company official informed. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

Emergency medical services reported they treated five patients, and transferred a trio to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised back pain and head pain. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the most recent case of planes being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with researchers pointing out that climate change is a key driver.

There were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the representative added, adding that the plane touched down "without further incident" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics indicated they received a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane arrived, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, encountered "considerable" rough air just two hours into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a certain international flight endured a harrowing short but intense period of extreme instability. A traveler lost their life and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

Bumpy air is not uncommon during flights, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are around thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a total of more than 35 million journeys that now take off globally.

Intense turbulence is described as when the vertical motions of a jet experiencing disturbed air exert in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As global warming alters the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that flying could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are expected to increase the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.