A Number of Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts Delta Flight Arriving in Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured after a Delta aircraft traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia encountered turbulence Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a company official told. A number of the onboard staff sustained injuries.

Local paramedics said they evaluated five patients, and took three of them to hospital with relatively minor issues that included back pain and migraines. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the newest example of commercial jets encountering atmospheric disturbance, with researchers indicating that shifting climate patterns is a significant contributor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson said, adding that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Paramedics indicated they received a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane touched down, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more frequent - and often stronger.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "significant" turbulence just two hours into the lengthy trip, and diverted for an unscheduled landing.

Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a frightening short but intense bout of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while cases of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million flights that are conducted around the world.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a plane passing through rough air masses exert more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to propel you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As global warming modifies atmospheric conditions, experts warn that flying could become less smooth: temperature changes and altered air currents in the jet stream level are projected to boost the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.