A Number of Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney

Several people have been injured after a Delta Airlines jet originating in LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by significant turbulence this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a company official stated. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

Local paramedics said they treated five individuals, and transported three of them to a medical facility with minor injuries that included back pain and headaches. The patients' ages spanned from their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the most recent case of aircraft being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with experts saying that climate change is a major factor.

On board were 245 people and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the representative said, clarifying that the plane landed "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.

Emergency responders said they were alerted just three minutes before the plane arrived, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

Why plane turbulence is growing more common - and more severe.

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "severe" atmospheric disturbance just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a terrifying five seconds period of extreme instability. A traveler lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while occurrences of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are an estimated five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a total of more than 35 million journeys that now take off worldwide.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the sudden jolts of a jet experiencing rough air masses exert greater than a significant G-force on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As global warming shifts the conditions in the sky, experts warn that flying could become less smooth: warming trends and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are likely to increase the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.