A Number of Injured as Rough Air Impacts Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney, Australia

Several people have been injured after a Delta flight originating in LA to Sydney encountered significant turbulence this past Friday.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a company official stated. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

Local paramedics stated they treated a total of five people, and transferred three to hospital with relatively minor issues that included spinal discomfort and head pain. Those affected ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the latest incident of commercial jets being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with researchers pointing out that shifting climate patterns is a significant contributor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the representative said, stating that the plane touched down "safely" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service said they were alerted just three minutes before the plane landed, and ambulances were standing by on the runway.

The reasons turbulence is becoming more common - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, experienced "considerable" turbulence just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a certain international flight experienced a frightening brief five-second of severe turbulence. One passenger died and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is not uncommon during flights, and while cases of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.

Research indicates that there are around thousands of instances of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a overall number of in excess of 35 million journeys that are conducted globally.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the up and down movements of a jet experiencing unstable air apply greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As climate change modifies weather patterns, experts warn that flying could become less smooth: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are likely to heighten the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.