A Number of Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts Delta Plane Landing at Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight originating in Los Angeles to Sydney was hit by turbulence this past Friday.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a company official informed. Four flight attendants were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service stated they treated five individuals, and transferred three of them to the hospital with minor injuries that included back pain and migraines. The injured spanned from their 30s to 70s.

It is the most recent case of planes being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists saying that climate change is a significant contributor.

There were 245 people and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson added, clarifying that the plane arrived "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service reported they got a call just only 180 seconds before the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were standing by on the runway.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more frequent - and often stronger.

Last year, 25 people were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "considerable" rough air just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and diverted for an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a terrifying short but intense of severe turbulence. A traveler died and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while instances of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a overall number of more than 35 million journeys that now take off globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the up and down movements of a jet passing through rough air masses generate in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As a changing climate modifies the conditions in the sky, experts warn that flying could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the jet stream level are projected to increase the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.