A Number of Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Hits A Delta Airlines Aircraft into Sydney

A number of individuals sustained injuries after a Delta aircraft originating in LA to Sydney, Australia encountered rough air Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson told. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

Local paramedics said they treated five individuals, and transported three to the hospital with minor injuries that comprised pain in the back and migraines. The injured were between their 30s to 70s.

It is the most recent case of aircraft encountering severe turbulence, with aviation specialists saying that climate change is a significant contributor.

There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson noted, clarifying that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at the airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics indicated they received a call just only 180 seconds before the plane arrived, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is becoming increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, 25 people were hurt when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a certain international flight endured a frightening five seconds of severe turbulence. An individual died and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon while flying, and while occurrences of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are an estimated thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a overall number of over 35 million journeys that now take off globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the up and down movements of a aircraft experiencing unstable air apply greater than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As global warming modifies atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become more turbulent: temperature changes and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are projected to heighten the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.