A Number of Affected as In-Flight Disturbance Hits A Delta Airlines Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew were hurt when a Delta Airlines aircraft from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by significant turbulence on Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier stated. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.

Emergency medical services said they treated five patients, and took three of them to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised back pain and head pain. The injured were between their 30s to 70s.

The event represents the newest example of aircraft encountering atmospheric disturbance, with researchers indicating that global warming is a key driver.

There were 245 passengers and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the representative noted, adding that the plane arrived "safely" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders reported they received a call just only 180 seconds before the plane arrived, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is becoming more frequent - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, 25 people were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "significant" rough air just a couple of hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet went through a harrowing brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. A traveler lost their life and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in lifted out of their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence while flying, and while cases of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are an estimated five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a sum of more than 35 million journeys that now take off globally.

Severe turbulence is defined as when the vertical motions of a plane passing through unstable air exert in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - enough to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a restraint.

As a changing climate shifts weather patterns, researchers alert that air travel could become more turbulent: warming trends and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are projected to heighten the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.