Multiple Affected as Rough Air Hits Delta Aircraft into Sydney

A number of individuals were hurt when a Delta flight originating in LA to Sydney was hit by turbulence Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier stated. Several cabin crew members sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they evaluated five individuals, and transferred three to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and migraines. The injured spanned from their 30s to 70s.

This marks the most recent case of commercial jets experiencing severe turbulence, with experts indicating that global warming is a significant contributor.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the official added, adding that the plane arrived "without further incident" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics indicated they got a call just three minutes before the plane arrived, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is getting increasingly prevalent - and more severe.

Last year, 25 people were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "significant" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a harrowing short but intense of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

Bumpy air is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while instances of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Estimates show that there are approximately thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a total of in excess of 35 million journeys that currently occur globally.

Severe turbulence is categorized as when the up and down movements of a jet experiencing unstable air apply in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As global warming alters the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become less smooth: temperature changes and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are projected to heighten the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.