Multiple Affected as Rough Air Impacts A Delta Airlines Plane Arriving in Sydney

A number of individuals were hurt following a Delta Airlines jet from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced significant turbulence on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson informed. A number of the onboard staff sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they assessed five patients, and transferred three to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that included spinal discomfort and head pain. Those affected spanned from their 30s to 70s.

This marks the most recent case of aircraft experiencing turbulence, with researchers pointing out that climate change is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson noted, stating that the plane arrived "safely" at the airport at 06:48 local time on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service said they were alerted just three minutes prior to the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is getting more common - and often stronger.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "considerable" turbulence just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a harrowing brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. An individual died and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while occurrences of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are an estimated five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a sum of more than 35 million flights that currently occur globally.

Severe turbulence is described as when the vertical motions of a jet experiencing rough air masses generate greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.

As a changing climate modifies atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that air travel could become more turbulent: temperature changes and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are expected to boost the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.