A Number of Injured as Turbulence Hits A Delta Airlines Aircraft into Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals have been injured after a Delta Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Sydney encountered significant turbulence on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson stated. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.

Emergency medical services said they assessed five patients, and transferred three to a medical facility with minor injuries that such as spinal discomfort and headaches. The patients' ages spanned from their 30s to 70s.

This marks the newest example of planes being hit by turbulence, with aviation specialists pointing out that global warming is a major factor.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the representative said, stating that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they were alerted just a mere three minutes prior to the plane landed, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming more frequent - and more severe.

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

Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a frightening brief five-second of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon while flying, and while cases of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

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

Severe turbulence is defined as when the up and down movements of a plane passing through disturbed air apply in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As a changing climate shifts the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that flying could become bumpier: warming trends and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.