Multiple Injured as Turbulence Hits Delta Flight into Sydney

A number of individuals were hurt following a Delta aircraft traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia encountered rough air on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a company official informed. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

Emergency medical services said they assessed a total of five people, and took three of them to the hospital with relatively minor issues that such as spinal discomfort and head pain. Those affected were between their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the newest example of planes encountering severe turbulence, with researchers saying that shifting climate patterns is a significant contributor.

There were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the representative said, adding that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they received a call just three minutes prior to the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

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

In the previous year, two dozen individuals were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" rough air just two hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a terrifying brief five-second of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while cases of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are approximately five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million journeys that are conducted around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the vertical motions of a aircraft going through disturbed air generate greater than a significant G-force on your body - enough to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As global warming modifies the conditions in the sky, experts warn that commercial aviation could become less smooth: warming trends and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are expected to heighten the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.