Multiple Affected as Rough Air Impacts Delta Plane into Sydney

Several people have been injured when a Delta jet from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered rough air this past Friday.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier stated. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

Local paramedics said they evaluated five patients, and transported three of them to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised back pain and migraines. The injured ranged from their 30s to 70s.

It is the most recent case of planes being hit by severe turbulence, with experts pointing out that global warming is a key driver.

There were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the representative said, clarifying that the plane landed "safely" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

Emergency responders said they got a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is growing increasingly prevalent - and more severe.

Last year, 25 people were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "severe" rough air just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a frightening short but intense bout of severe turbulence. An individual lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

Bumpy air is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Research indicates that there are an estimated thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a sum of over 35 million flights that currently occur globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the sudden jolts of a jet experiencing rough air masses exert more than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As climate change shifts the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that air travel could become more turbulent: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are expected to heighten the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.