Several Affected as Turbulence Impacts Delta Plane Arriving in Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals have been injured when a Delta Airlines jet traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney encountered turbulence this past Friday.

The flight, numbered 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson informed. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

Emergency medical services said they evaluated five individuals, and transferred a trio to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and migraines. The patients' ages were between their 30s to 70s.

This marks the most recent case of aircraft encountering atmospheric disturbance, with researchers indicating that climate change is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson noted, adding that the plane arrived "safely" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Paramedics reported they received a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane landed, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is becoming more frequent - and often stronger.

During the past year, 25 people were injured when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, encountered "considerable" rough air just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a harrowing five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is not uncommon while flying, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a sum of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the vertical motions of a plane experiencing unstable air apply more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a seatbelt.

As global warming shifts the conditions in the sky, experts warn that air travel could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are likely to increase the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.