Several Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Hits Delta Flight into Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals were hurt following a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered turbulence this past Friday.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a company official told. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service stated they assessed five patients, and transported a trio to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised pain in the back and head pain. The patients' ages ranged from their thirties and seventies.

This marks the latest incident of aircraft being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists saying that global warming is a key driver.

There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the representative noted, clarifying that the plane landed "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Paramedics indicated they were alerted just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane arrived, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

Why plane turbulence is getting more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, 25 people were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" rough air just two hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a harrowing five seconds period of extreme instability. A traveler lost their life and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while cases of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Research indicates that there are around five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a total of more than 35 million flights that currently occur worldwide.

Severe turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a aircraft passing through unstable air apply more 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 shifts weather patterns, experts warn that flying could become less smooth: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the higher altitudes are projected to increase the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.