Multiple Hurt as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney

Several people were hurt when a Delta flight originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by rough air on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier informed. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

Local paramedics stated they assessed five patients, and transferred three of them to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that included pain in the back and head pain. The injured ranged from their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the newest example of aircraft encountering turbulence, with experts saying that global warming is a key driver.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the official noted, adding that the plane landed "safely and normally" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they were alerted just three minutes ahead of the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, two dozen individuals were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "considerable" turbulence just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a certain international flight went through a harrowing short but intense of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while cases of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are around five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a overall number of more than 35 million journeys that now take off worldwide.

Severe turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a plane passing through disturbed air generate greater than a significant G-force on your body - enough to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As climate change modifies the conditions in the sky, experts warn that flying could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are expected to heighten the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.