Several Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Hits A Delta Airlines Plane Landing at Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta jet from LA to Sydney experienced turbulence on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier stated. A number of the onboard staff sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they assessed five individuals, and transported three of them to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that such as back pain and migraines. Those affected spanned from their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the most recent case of planes being hit by turbulence, with experts pointing out that global warming is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the representative added, clarifying that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Emergency responders indicated they received a call just a mere three minutes ahead of the plane arrived, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is becoming more common - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, 25 people were hurt when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "considerable" rough air just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a frightening brief five-second of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.

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

Research indicates that there are around 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a sum of more than 35 million journeys that now take off worldwide.

Severe turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a plane passing through unstable air generate in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As climate change modifies weather patterns, experts warn that commercial aviation could become bumpier: temperature changes and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are likely to heighten the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.