Multiple Affected as Turbulence Hits Delta Aircraft into Sydney

A number of individuals were hurt after a Delta Airlines aircraft from Los Angeles to Sydney was hit by rough air this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson informed. Several cabin crew members were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they evaluated a total of five people, and transferred three to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that included back pain and head pain. Those affected ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the newest example of aircraft being hit by turbulence, with aviation specialists saying that global warming is a key driver.

On board were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the official said, clarifying that the plane landed "safely" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Emergency responders indicated they got a call just a mere three minutes before the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

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

During the past year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" rough air just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a certain international flight experienced a harrowing five seconds of severe turbulence. An individual died and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Research indicates that there are approximately thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a overall number of more than 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the vertical motions of a jet passing through rough air masses generate greater than 1.5g-force on your body - enough to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As global warming modifies atmospheric conditions, experts warn that commercial aviation could become bumpier: warming trends and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are expected to increase the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.