A Number of Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts A Delta Airlines Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals were hurt following a Delta Airlines jet traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by turbulence Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "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 sustained injuries.

Local paramedics said they evaluated a total of five people, and took three of them to hospital with minor injuries that such as spinal discomfort and head pain. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the most recent case of commercial jets being hit by turbulence, with researchers saying that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the representative said, clarifying that the plane arrived "safely" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders indicated they were alerted just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is getting more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" turbulence just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, those on board on a certain international flight endured a harrowing short but intense bout of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

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

Data suggests that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a sum of more than 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the up and down movements of a plane experiencing disturbed air apply greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As global warming modifies the conditions in the sky, experts warn that air travel could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are projected to boost the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.