A Number of Affected as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Flight into Sydney

A number of individuals sustained injuries following a Delta Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia experienced significant turbulence on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson told. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

Emergency medical services reported they assessed five individuals, and transported a trio to hospital with minor injuries that included spinal discomfort and migraines. The patients' ages spanned from their 30s to 70s.

This marks the latest incident of commercial jets encountering atmospheric disturbance, with researchers pointing out that climate change is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the representative added, adding that the plane touched down "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Emergency responders indicated they received a call just a mere three minutes before the plane arrived, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is getting more common - and more severe.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "considerable" turbulence just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an emergency landing.

Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a frightening five seconds period of extreme instability. A traveler lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while instances of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Research indicates that there are approximately thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a sum of over 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur around the world.

Severe turbulence is defined as when the up and down movements of a aircraft passing through rough air masses generate greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As climate change modifies atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that air travel could become bumpier: warming trends and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are projected to boost the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.