Several Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Hits A Delta Airlines Plane Arriving in Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured following a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by rough air Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a company official informed. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they assessed five patients, and transported three of them to a medical facility with minor injuries that such as pain in the back and migraines. The injured were between their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the most recent case of planes being hit by turbulence, with experts saying that climate change is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson added, stating that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service reported they received a call just three minutes prior to the plane landed, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is becoming more frequent - and often stronger.

Last year, 25 people were injured when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, hit "considerable" atmospheric disturbance just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and diverted for an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a certain international flight went through a harrowing short but intense period of extreme instability. One passenger died and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while cases of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Estimates show that there are an estimated thousands of instances of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a overall number of over 35 million flights that are conducted around the world.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the vertical motions of a plane going through unstable air generate more than 1.5g-force on your body - enough to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As climate change shifts weather patterns, researchers alert that air travel could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are expected to boost the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.