A Number of Affected as Turbulence Hits A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney

A number of individuals sustained injuries following a Delta aircraft from LA to Sydney was hit by rough air Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier informed. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

Local paramedics said they evaluated five individuals, and transferred three of them to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that such as spinal discomfort and head pain. The patients' ages spanned from their 30s to 70s.

It is the latest incident of aircraft experiencing severe turbulence, with experts saying that global warming is a key driver.

There were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the representative said, clarifying that the plane touched down "safely" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders indicated they were alerted just only 180 seconds prior to the plane arrived, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.

Why plane turbulence is getting more common - and often stronger.

During the past year, two dozen individuals were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" rough air just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an precautionary landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a certain international flight went through a harrowing five seconds of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

Bumpy air is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Research indicates that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that now take off globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft experiencing rough air masses exert greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As global warming modifies weather patterns, experts warn that flying could become bumpier: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are projected to heighten the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.