Several Hurt as Rough Air Impacts Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney

Several people have been injured when a Delta Airlines jet originating in LA to Sydney was hit by significant turbulence Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier told. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service stated they evaluated a total of five people, and transferred three of them to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that included back pain and migraines. The injured ranged from their 30s to 70s.

It is the most recent case of aircraft experiencing severe turbulence, with researchers pointing out that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

There were nearly 250 travelers and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson added, adding that the plane arrived "safely" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Emergency responders reported they received a call just only 180 seconds prior to the plane landed, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting increasingly prevalent - and often stronger.

During the past year, two dozen individuals were injured when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "significant" turbulence just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a frightening short but intense period of extreme instability. An individual died and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is not uncommon while flying, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests that there are an estimated thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a overall number of over 35 million journeys that currently occur globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the up and down movements of a plane experiencing rough air masses generate in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As a changing climate modifies the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that air travel could become more turbulent: temperature changes and altered air currents in the jet stream level are likely to increase the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.