Several Hurt as In-Flight Disturbance Strikes Delta Plane Arriving in Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew were hurt following a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney experienced rough air Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson told. Four flight attendants were injured.

Local paramedics reported they evaluated five individuals, and took a trio to a medical facility with minor injuries that included back pain and head pain. Those affected were between their 30s to 70s.

This marks the latest incident of aircraft being hit by turbulence, with aviation specialists pointing out that climate change is a key driver.

There were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the Airbus A350, the representative said, stating that the plane landed "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

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

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

In the previous year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, encountered "considerable" rough air just a couple of hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a harrowing five seconds of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as individuals not fastened in rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is not uncommon while flying, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are remained quite uncommon.

Data suggests that there are around 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance each year, out of a total of over 35 million aircraft departures that now take off globally.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the up and down movements of a plane going through rough air masses generate 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 restraint.

As climate change alters weather patterns, researchers alert that flying could become bumpier: temperature changes and altered air currents in the higher altitudes are expected to increase the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.