A Number of Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Hits A Delta Airlines Flight into Sydney, Australia

Several people were hurt after a Delta Airlines jet traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by significant turbulence Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson informed. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

Local paramedics said they treated a total of five people, and transported a trio to hospital with minor injuries that comprised back pain and headaches. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the most recent case of commercial jets experiencing turbulence, with researchers indicating that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

There were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson added, adding that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.

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

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming more frequent - and more severe.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" turbulence just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Recently, those on board on a certain international flight experienced a terrifying brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. A traveler passed away and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is a common occurrence while flying, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a total of more than 35 million flights that now take off worldwide.

Severe turbulence is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft passing through rough air masses exert in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As a changing climate alters atmospheric conditions, experts warn that commercial aviation could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are projected to boost the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.