A Number of Injured as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Plane into Sydney, Australia

Several people were hurt when a Delta Airlines aircraft originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia experienced turbulence on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier informed. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

Local paramedics reported they evaluated a total of five people, and transferred three of them to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that such as spinal discomfort and migraines. The injured spanned from their 30s to 70s.

This marks the latest incident of commercial jets encountering atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists saying that global warming is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson noted, clarifying that the plane landed "without further incident" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Emergency responders indicated they got a call just three minutes ahead of the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

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

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" rough air just 120 minutes into the lengthy trip, and had to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a certain international flight went through a harrowing five seconds bout of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and were slammed back.

Turbulence is not uncommon while flying, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are around 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a sum of more than 35 million flights that are conducted around the world.

Intense turbulence is described as when the vertical motions of a plane experiencing disturbed air exert in excess of a significant G-force on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As climate change alters atmospheric conditions, experts warn that air travel could become bumpier: warming trends and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are projected to increase the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.