Several Affected as Turbulence Hits A Delta Airlines Plane into Sydney

A number of individuals were hurt when a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from LA to Sydney encountered rough air Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it landed at the Sydney airport, an airline spokesperson stated. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

Local paramedics said they treated five individuals, and took three of them to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised pain in the back and head pain. The injured were between their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the most recent case of aircraft being hit by severe turbulence, with aviation specialists saying that climate change is a key driver.

There were 245 people and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the Delta spokesperson noted, clarifying that the plane touched down "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service said they received a call just three minutes ahead of the plane landed, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is becoming more frequent - and often stronger.

In the previous year, 25 people were injured when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "severe" atmospheric disturbance just two hours into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a certain international flight went through a frightening brief five-second of severe turbulence. A traveler lost their life and numerous people sustained injuries, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine during flights, and while occurrences of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.

Data suggests that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a total of in excess of 35 million aircraft departures that currently occur worldwide.

Severe turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a aircraft experiencing unstable air generate more than a significant G-force on your body - enough to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As a changing climate shifts atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that air travel could become bumpier: temperature changes and changing jet streams in the higher altitudes are projected to increase the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.