A Number of Hurt as Turbulence Impacts Delta Aircraft into Sydney

A number of individuals sustained injuries following a Delta Airlines aircraft originating in LA to Sydney encountered turbulence on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson told. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

Emergency medical services reported they assessed five individuals, and took three of them to hospital with minor injuries that included back pain and head pain. Those affected spanned from their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the latest incident of aircraft encountering atmospheric disturbance, with experts saying that shifting climate patterns is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 people and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the representative said, clarifying that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Emergency responders indicated they were alerted just only 180 seconds before the plane touched down, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

Why plane turbulence is growing more common - and potentially more dangerous.

Last year, 25 people sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "considerable" turbulence just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a frightening five seconds bout of severe turbulence. A traveler passed away and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

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

Research indicates that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence each year, out of a total of more than 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur worldwide.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the up and down movements of a plane passing through unstable air apply greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As global warming alters weather patterns, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become less smooth: warming trends and altered air currents in the jet stream level are projected to heighten the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.