A Number of Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Hits A Delta Airlines Flight into Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta flight from LA to Sydney encountered turbulence Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson stated. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

Emergency medical services said they evaluated a total of five people, and took a trio to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised pain in the back and head pain. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.

This marks the newest example of aircraft being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with researchers indicating that global warming is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the official noted, stating that the plane landed "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

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

Why plane turbulence is getting more common - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "considerable" rough air just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a certain international flight endured a terrifying five seconds of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while instances of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Research indicates that there are an estimated thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a total of more than 35 million flights that are conducted globally.

Intense turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a plane experiencing rough air masses apply in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As a changing climate shifts weather patterns, experts warn that commercial aviation could become less smooth: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are likely to increase the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.