A Number of Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Hits Delta Plane into Sydney, Australia

A number of individuals have been injured after a Delta Airlines aircraft from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by turbulence Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier told. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.

Emergency medical services reported they assessed five individuals, and took three to hospital with minor injuries that such as back pain and migraines. The patients' ages were between their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the latest incident of aircraft being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with researchers indicating that global warming is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 people and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the representative noted, clarifying that the plane landed "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

The NSW Ambulance Service said they got a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane landed, and emergency vehicles were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is growing more frequent - and more severe.

In the previous year, 25 people sustained injuries when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, experienced "significant" atmospheric disturbance just two hours into the long-haul flight, and had to make an emergency landing.

Recently, those on board on a certain international flight endured a harrowing five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger lost their life and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts lifted out of their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine during flights, and while occurrences of significant turbulence appear to be increasing, they are remained quite uncommon.

Data suggests that there are around five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence every year, out of a total of more than 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur around the world.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the vertical motions of a jet going through rough air masses exert greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As climate change alters atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that air travel could become bumpier: shifts in temperature and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are projected to boost the regularity and severity of significant turbulence.