Several Injured as Turbulence Hits Delta Plane Landing at Sydney, Australia

Several people were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight originating in Los Angeles to Sydney experienced significant turbulence this past Friday.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier told. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

Local paramedics stated they assessed five individuals, and transferred three of them to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised back pain and head pain. The patients' ages were between their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the latest incident of commercial jets being hit by severe turbulence, with researchers pointing out that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

On board were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the representative noted, clarifying that the plane arrived "safely" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they got a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane arrived, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

The reasons turbulence is becoming increasingly prevalent - and often stronger.

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" rough air just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a certain international flight went through a terrifying brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. A traveler lost their life and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while occurrences of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are around thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence every year, out of a total of over 35 million aircraft departures that now take off worldwide.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the up and down movements of a plane experiencing unstable air exert more than a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As global warming alters the conditions in the sky, experts warn that commercial aviation could become bumpier: temperature changes and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are expected to increase the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.