Multiple Affected as Rough Air Hits Delta Flight into Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals have been injured when a Delta Airlines flight traveling from LA to Sydney was hit by significant turbulence on Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, a company official stated. A number of the onboard staff sustained injuries.

Emergency medical services said they assessed five individuals, and transferred three of them to the hospital with minor injuries that included spinal discomfort and migraines. The patients' ages ranged from their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the latest incident of aircraft being hit by severe turbulence, with researchers saying that global warming is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the official added, adding that the plane touched down "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday.

Emergency responders reported they were alerted just a mere three minutes before the plane touched down, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

The reasons turbulence is growing more common - and more severe.

Last year, two dozen individuals were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "considerable" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an precautionary landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a frightening five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger lost their life and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is a common occurrence while flying, and while occurrences of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are remained quite uncommon.

Data suggests that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a overall number of over 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is described as when the up and down movements of a aircraft experiencing rough air masses generate in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As a changing climate shifts weather patterns, experts warn that flying could become less smooth: temperature changes and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are projected to increase the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.