Multiple Hurt as Rough Air Strikes Delta Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals have been injured after a Delta jet from Los Angeles to Sydney encountered significant turbulence on Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier stated. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

Emergency medical services said they assessed five individuals, and took a trio to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised back pain and headaches. The patients' ages spanned from their 30s to 70s.

The event represents the newest example of commercial jets encountering atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists saying that global warming is a significant contributor.

There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson added, stating that the plane landed "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

Emergency responders said they received a call just a mere three minutes ahead of the plane landed, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

Why plane turbulence is getting increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, two dozen individuals were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "considerable" turbulence just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a terrifying five seconds of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a sum of more than 35 million journeys that are conducted globally.

Intense turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a plane going through disturbed air exert more than a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As global warming alters atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that air travel could become bumpier: temperature changes and shifting wind patterns in the higher altitudes are likely to increase the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.