Multiple Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Hits A Delta Airlines Plane Arriving in Sydney

A number of individuals sustained injuries after a Delta Airlines aircraft from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered rough air Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a company official told. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they assessed a total of five people, and transferred a trio to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that comprised pain in the back and head pain. The injured ranged from their thirties and seventies.

This marks the newest example of planes encountering severe turbulence, with researchers saying that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson noted, clarifying that the plane landed "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Emergency responders reported they were alerted just a mere three minutes before the plane arrived, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

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

Last year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "severe" turbulence just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a certain international flight went through a harrowing five seconds of severe turbulence. One passenger lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence every year, out of a overall number of more than 35 million flights that currently occur globally.

Severe turbulence is described as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft going through rough air masses apply more than 1.5g-force on your body - enough to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As climate change alters the conditions in the sky, experts warn that air travel could become bumpier: warming trends and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are expected to heighten the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.