Several Injured as Rough Air Impacts Delta Flight Arriving in Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured when a Delta Airlines flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered turbulence on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier informed. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

Local paramedics reported they treated a total of five people, and transported three of them to hospital with relatively minor issues that such as spinal discomfort and head pain. The injured were between their thirties and seventies.

This marks the latest incident of planes being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists saying that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson added, adding that the plane arrived "safely" at the airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders said they were alerted just a mere three minutes ahead of the plane touched down, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "considerable" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a terrifying short but intense of severe turbulence. One passenger died and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while cases of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a sum of more than 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft experiencing unstable air apply greater than 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As global warming alters the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become less smooth: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are likely to boost the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.