A Number of Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts Delta Aircraft into Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries following a Delta Airlines aircraft originating in LA to Sydney, Australia experienced rough air on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier informed. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

Local paramedics said they treated five patients, and took three of them to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that included spinal discomfort and migraines. Those affected spanned from their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the newest example of planes experiencing turbulence, with aviation specialists indicating that shifting climate patterns is a key driver.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the official added, adding that the plane landed "safely" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they got a call just only 180 seconds prior to the plane touched down, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

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

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" turbulence just two hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a terrifying short but intense period of extreme instability. One passenger lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

Bumpy air is not uncommon during flights, and while cases of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are around thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a sum of over 35 million flights that currently occur around the world.

Severe turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a plane experiencing rough air masses apply greater than 1.5g-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As global warming modifies atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become bumpier: warming trends and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are expected to increase the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.