Multiple Hurt as Rough Air Hits A Delta Airlines Plane Arriving in Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured after a Delta Airlines jet traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney was hit by rough air this past Friday.

Flight DL41 "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 required medical attention.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they evaluated five individuals, and transferred three of them to a medical facility with minor injuries that included spinal discomfort and migraines. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.

It is the most recent case of planes encountering turbulence, with experts indicating that global warming is a key driver.

There were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the representative said, clarifying that the plane landed "safely" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics indicated they were alerted just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is growing increasingly prevalent - and often stronger.

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, hit "significant" turbulence just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a terrifying five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger died and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.

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

Estimates show that there are around 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million flights that now take off globally.

Severe turbulence is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a jet experiencing unstable air exert more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As climate change modifies atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that flying could become less smooth: warming trends and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are likely to heighten the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.