Multiple Injured as Turbulence Hits A Delta Airlines Plane Landing at Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals sustained injuries after a Delta Airlines aircraft from LA to Sydney encountered rough air on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson informed. Several cabin crew members were injured.

Local paramedics said they treated five individuals, and transferred three to the hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised back pain and migraines. The patients' ages were between their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the latest incident of planes encountering turbulence, with experts indicating that global warming is a key driver.

There were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the representative said, adding that the plane touched down "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service reported they were alerted just a mere three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.

Why plane turbulence is getting more common - and more severe.

Last year, 25 people sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "significant" rough air just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a terrifying five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger passed away and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while cases of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are approximately five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a total of over 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the up and down movements of a plane experiencing unstable air apply greater than a significant G-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As a changing climate shifts atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become less smooth: warming trends and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are likely to increase the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.