Several Affected as Turbulence Hits A Delta Airlines Aircraft into Sydney

A number of individuals were hurt following a Delta jet from LA to Sydney, Australia encountered turbulence on Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier told. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they evaluated five individuals, and transported three of them to hospital with minor injuries that comprised pain in the back and headaches. The patients' ages spanned from their 30s up to the 70s.

This marks the newest example of aircraft encountering atmospheric disturbance, with experts pointing out that climate change is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying nearly 250 travelers and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson noted, adding that the plane landed "safely and normally" at the airport at 06:48 local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders indicated they received a call just three minutes prior to the plane arrived, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

The reasons turbulence is becoming more common - and potentially more dangerous.

Last year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when another Delta jet, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" atmospheric disturbance just two hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.

Recently, those on board on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a frightening five seconds bout of severe turbulence. One passenger died and many were hurt, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is not uncommon on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are approximately five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance annually, out of a sum of more than 35 million flights that currently occur globally.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the vertical motions of a aircraft passing through unstable air exert greater than a significant G-force on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As global warming modifies weather patterns, experts warn that commercial aviation could become less smooth: warming trends and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are projected to heighten the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.