Multiple Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals have been injured when a Delta aircraft originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia experienced significant turbulence this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson told. A number of the onboard staff sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they evaluated five patients, and transported three of them to a medical facility with minor injuries that comprised pain in the back and migraines. Those affected were between their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the newest example of commercial jets encountering turbulence, with researchers pointing out that climate change is a key driver.

There were nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the official added, adding that the plane landed "safely and normally" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.

Paramedics indicated they were alerted just three minutes ahead of the plane arrived, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is getting more common - and more severe.

Last year, two dozen individuals were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "significant" rough air just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a terrifying brief five-second period of extreme instability. One passenger died and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while cases of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests that there are approximately 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a sum of more than 35 million flights that are conducted around the world.

Intense turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a plane experiencing unstable air apply in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As global warming modifies weather patterns, experts warn that commercial aviation could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are expected to heighten the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.