A Number of Affected as Rough Air Hits Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries following a Delta Airlines jet originating in Los Angeles to Sydney experienced significant turbulence on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a company official told. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they treated a total of five people, and transported a trio to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised back pain and headaches. The injured ranged from their 30s to 70s.

The event represents the most recent case of aircraft being hit by severe turbulence, with experts pointing out that shifting climate patterns is a key driver.

There were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the representative said, stating that the plane arrived "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday.

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

Why plane turbulence is growing more common - and often stronger.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "significant" turbulence just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and diverted for an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a harrowing brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. A traveler died and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are an estimated five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a total of over 35 million journeys that currently occur worldwide.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the vertical motions of a jet passing through unstable air generate greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As climate change shifts the conditions in the sky, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are expected to heighten the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.