Multiple Affected as Turbulence Strikes Delta Aircraft into Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured after a Delta aircraft originating in LA to Sydney, Australia experienced rough air this past Friday.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a company official told. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

Local paramedics reported they assessed five individuals, and took a trio to hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised spinal discomfort and migraines. The patients' ages spanned from their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the most recent case of planes encountering atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists saying that global warming is a key driver.

The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the official noted, adding that the plane landed "safely and normally" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service reported 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 growing more frequent - and more severe.

In the previous year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "considerable" turbulence just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a certain international flight experienced a terrifying brief five-second period of extreme instability. A traveler died and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

Bumpy air is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while instances of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.

Research indicates that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a overall number of over 35 million flights that are conducted worldwide.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the up and down movements of a plane passing through disturbed air exert in excess of a significant G-force on your body - sufficient force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As a changing climate modifies the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that air travel could become bumpier: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are likely to heighten the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.