A Number of Injured as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney

A number of individuals have been injured following a Delta Airlines flight from LA to Sydney, Australia experienced significant turbulence this past Friday.

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

Emergency medical services reported they treated five patients, and took three to hospital with relatively minor issues that such as back pain and head pain. The injured ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the newest example of aircraft being hit by severe turbulence, with researchers pointing out that climate change is a key driver.

The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the official said, clarifying that the plane landed "safely and normally" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Emergency responders reported they got a call just only 180 seconds before the plane landed, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming more common - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, 25 people were hurt when another Delta jet, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "considerable" rough air just two hours into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a certain international flight endured a terrifying five seconds of severe turbulence. A traveler died and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

Bumpy air is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while instances of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are approximately 5,000 incidents of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a overall number of more than 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur around the world.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the up and down movements of a plane going through disturbed air apply greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you did not have on a restraint.

As global warming shifts atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become bumpier: temperature changes and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are likely to boost the occurrence and strength of significant turbulence.