A Number of Hurt as Turbulence Hits Delta Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured following a Delta flight from LA to Sydney, Australia encountered significant turbulence Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson told. Four flight attendants were injured.

Emergency medical services reported they treated a total of five people, and transported three of them to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised back pain and head pain. Those affected were between their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the latest incident of commercial jets encountering atmospheric disturbance, with experts indicating that climate change is a key driver.

The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the official noted, adding that the plane touched down "safely" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Paramedics reported they received a call just three minutes prior to the plane landed, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

Why in-flight bumpiness is growing more common - and often stronger.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "severe" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a frightening five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger died and numerous people sustained injuries, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

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

Research indicates that there are around 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a overall number of over 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur globally.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the vertical motions of a jet passing through rough air masses exert more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As a changing climate modifies atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become less smooth: warming trends and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are projected to boost the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.