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

A number of individuals were hurt when a Delta jet from LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by turbulence on Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier informed. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

Emergency medical services stated they treated a total of five people, and transferred three to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that such as spinal discomfort and headaches. The injured ranged from their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the latest incident of commercial jets being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with researchers pointing out that climate change is a key driver.

There were nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the representative added, stating that the plane landed "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Paramedics indicated they got a call just three minutes before the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more common - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, two dozen individuals were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a harrowing brief five-second of severe turbulence. An individual died and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is fairly routine while flying, and while instances of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are approximately 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a overall number of more than 35 million journeys that are conducted worldwide.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the up and down movements of a plane going through disturbed air exert in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As global warming modifies the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that flying could become bumpier: warming trends and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are likely to heighten the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.