Several Hurt as Turbulence Strikes Delta Plane Landing at Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals have been injured when a Delta Airlines jet originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by rough air this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier told. Several cabin crew members were injured.

Emergency medical services stated they evaluated five patients, and transferred three to the hospital with relatively minor issues that included spinal discomfort and headaches. Those affected ranged from their thirties and seventies.

This marks the latest incident of aircraft encountering turbulence, with aviation specialists indicating that climate change is a major factor.

There were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the representative said, clarifying that the plane landed "safely and normally" at the airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they got a call just only 180 seconds before the plane touched down, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

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

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "considerable" atmospheric disturbance just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a terrifying short but intense bout of severe turbulence. A traveler lost their life and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while cases of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are around thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a overall number of more than 35 million journeys that now take off around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the sudden jolts of a plane passing through disturbed air exert more than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As global warming shifts weather patterns, experts warn that commercial aviation could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are expected to heighten the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.