Several Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Hits Delta Flight Arriving in Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals sustained injuries after a Delta Airlines jet traveling from LA to Sydney encountered significant turbulence Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official stated. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they evaluated a total of five people, and took a trio to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised back pain and head pain. The patients' ages were between their thirties and seventies.

This marks the latest incident of aircraft experiencing atmospheric disturbance, with researchers saying that shifting climate patterns is a key driver.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson said, clarifying that the plane arrived "safely" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they received a call just a mere three minutes prior to the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is growing increasingly prevalent - and more severe.

During the past year, 25 people sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "significant" atmospheric disturbance just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an emergency landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a certain international flight experienced a frightening short but intense period of extreme instability. An individual lost their life and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are around 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a total of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted around the world.

Severe turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft experiencing rough air masses apply greater than a significant G-force on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a seatbelt.

As a changing climate modifies the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that air travel could become less smooth: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the jet stream level are expected to heighten the occurrence and strength of dangerous in-flight bumps.