A Number of Hurt as Turbulence Impacts Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney

A number of individuals were hurt following a Delta Airlines aircraft originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia experienced turbulence on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a company official told. Several cabin crew members were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they treated five patients, and transported three to the hospital with relatively minor issues that such as spinal discomfort and headaches. The patients' ages were between their 30s to 70s.

This marks the most recent case of planes encountering atmospheric disturbance, with researchers saying that climate change is a key driver.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson noted, stating that the plane arrived "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.

Emergency responders said they were alerted just three minutes prior to the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.

Why plane turbulence is becoming increasingly prevalent - and often stronger.

Last year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "considerable" rough air just two hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a frightening short but intense of severe turbulence. An individual lost their life and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while instances of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are an estimated five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence annually, out of a sum of in excess of 35 million journeys that currently occur globally.

Severe turbulence is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a jet passing through rough air masses generate more than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As a changing climate alters weather patterns, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the jet stream level are projected to heighten the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.