A Number of Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts Delta Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia

Several people were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia experienced turbulence this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier informed. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

Local paramedics stated they assessed a total of five people, and took three to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that such as spinal discomfort and head pain. Those affected were between their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the most recent case of commercial jets being hit by severe turbulence, with researchers pointing out that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson said, clarifying that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service said they got a call just a mere three minutes ahead of the plane touched down, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

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

During the past year, 25 people were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, encountered "severe" rough air just two hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.

Recently, those on board on a certain international flight experienced a harrowing five seconds bout of severe turbulence. One passenger died and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine during flights, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are around five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a sum of in excess of 35 million journeys that now take off around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the vertical motions of a aircraft going through unstable air generate in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As a changing climate modifies the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that air travel could become less smooth: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are expected to heighten the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.