Several Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Hits A Delta Airlines Plane Arriving in Sydney, Australia

Several people have been injured when a Delta flight originating in LA to Sydney experienced significant turbulence this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier informed. Several cabin crew members were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they treated five individuals, and transported three to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised back pain and migraines. The injured were between their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the most recent case of aircraft experiencing severe turbulence, with experts pointing out that shifting climate patterns is a key driver.

There were nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson noted, adding that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at the airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they were alerted just a mere three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is growing more common - and more severe.

During the past year, two dozen individuals were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "significant" rough air just 120 minutes into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a certain international flight went through a harrowing short but intense bout of severe turbulence. A traveler lost their life and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

Bumpy air is a common occurrence while flying, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests 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.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a plane experiencing unstable air generate in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As a changing climate shifts atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that air travel could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are likely to increase the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.