A Number of Hurt as Turbulence Impacts Delta Aircraft into Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured after a Delta flight originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia experienced turbulence this past Friday.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson informed. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they treated a total of five people, and transferred three of them to hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised pain in the back and migraines. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.

The event represents the newest example of commercial jets encountering severe turbulence, with aviation specialists pointing out that climate change is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the representative added, adding that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they received a call just only 180 seconds prior to the plane touched down, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

The reasons turbulence is getting increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, two dozen individuals were injured when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" turbulence just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a frightening brief five-second period of extreme instability. An individual died and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon while flying, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are an estimated five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a sum of in excess of 35 million journeys that now take off around the world.

Intense turbulence is described as when the vertical motions of a jet passing through rough air masses generate greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As a changing climate shifts weather patterns, researchers alert that flying could become bumpier: warming trends and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are projected to boost the occurrence and strength of severe turbulence.