Multiple Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts A Delta Airlines Flight into Sydney

A number of individuals have been injured after a Delta Airlines jet from LA to Sydney, Australia encountered significant turbulence Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier informed. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

Emergency medical services reported they evaluated five individuals, and transported three of them to hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised pain in the back and headaches. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the latest incident of commercial jets experiencing atmospheric disturbance, with experts indicating that global warming is a key driver.

On board were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson noted, clarifying that the plane touched down "without further incident" at the airport at 06:48 local time on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service reported they received a call just three minutes before the plane arrived, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is becoming more frequent - and more severe.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "severe" turbulence just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a harrowing short but intense of severe turbulence. A traveler passed away and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and were slammed back.

Turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while occurrences of significant turbulence seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Data suggests that there are approximately 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a total of more than 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur globally.

Intense turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a aircraft experiencing rough air masses apply in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As climate change alters the conditions in the sky, experts warn that air travel could become more turbulent: warming trends and altered air currents in the jet stream level are projected to boost the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.