A Number of Injured as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight Landing at Sydney

A number of individuals have been injured when a Delta flight traveling from LA to Sydney encountered rough air on Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a representative for the carrier told. Four flight attendants were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service stated they assessed a total of five people, and transported a trio to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that comprised pain in the back and migraines. The patients' ages spanned from their 30s to 70s.

The event represents the newest example of aircraft encountering atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists saying that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

On board were nearly 250 travelers and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson noted, stating that the plane touched down "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

The NSW Ambulance Service reported they were alerted just only 180 seconds before the plane touched down, and emergency vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is growing more common - and often stronger.

Last year, 25 people were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, travelling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, encountered "severe" rough air just two hours into the long-haul flight, and was forced to make an precautionary landing.

Recently, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines flight endured a harrowing five seconds bout 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 a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are remained quite uncommon.

Estimates show that there are approximately five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a total of over 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted globally.

Intense turbulence is described as when the up and down movements of a aircraft experiencing unstable air exert in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a safety belt.

As a changing climate modifies the conditions in the sky, experts warn that flying could become bumpier: temperature changes and altered air currents in the jet stream level are projected to heighten the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence.