Several Injured as Rough Air Hits A Delta Airlines Aircraft Arriving in Sydney

Several people were hurt when a Delta Airlines jet from LA to Sydney, Australia encountered turbulence on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a company official told. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

Local paramedics reported they evaluated a total of five people, and took three of them to a medical facility with minor injuries that such as back pain and head pain. Those affected were between their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the newest example of aircraft experiencing turbulence, with experts pointing out that global warming is a key driver.

On board were 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the representative noted, adding that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.

Paramedics said they were alerted just three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

Why plane turbulence is getting more common - and often stronger.

In the previous year, 25 people sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, hit "significant" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a certain international flight experienced a harrowing short but intense of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while instances of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are around 5,000 incidents of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a total of more than 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur globally.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the vertical motions of a jet passing through rough air masses exert greater than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As global warming shifts weather patterns, researchers alert that air travel could become bumpier: temperature changes and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are projected to boost the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.