Several Hurt as Rough Air Strikes Delta Flight Landing at Sydney

Several people have been injured following a Delta flight originating in LA to Sydney was hit by rough air Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a company official stated. Several cabin crew members required medical attention.

Local paramedics stated they evaluated a total of five people, and transported three of them to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and headaches. Those affected spanned from their 30s to 70s.

This marks the most recent case of commercial jets being hit by turbulence, with researchers saying that global warming is a key driver.

The aircraft was carrying 245 people and fifteen staff members on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson added, adding that the plane landed "safely and normally" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service said they were alerted just a mere three minutes before the plane arrived, and ambulances were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is getting more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, 25 people were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, travelling from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "severe" turbulence just two hours into the lengthy trip, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a terrifying brief five-second of severe turbulence. A traveler passed away and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers lifted out of their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.

Estimates show that there are approximately five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a total of over 35 million journeys that are conducted around the world.

Intense turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a plane experiencing unstable air apply more than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As a changing climate shifts the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become more turbulent: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the higher altitudes are expected to increase the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.