A Number of Injured as Rough Air Hits A Delta Airlines Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured following a Delta Airlines aircraft from LA to Sydney encountered turbulence Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a company official stated. Four flight attendants sustained injuries.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they evaluated a total of five people, and transferred a trio to the hospital with minor injuries that comprised spinal discomfort and head pain. The patients' ages were between their 30s to 70s.

This marks the most recent case of aircraft being hit by atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists saying that climate change is a key driver.

On board were 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the aircraft, the official added, stating that the plane landed "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Emergency responders said they received a call just a mere three minutes ahead of the plane arrived, 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 were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, encountered "severe" rough air just two hours into the lengthy trip, and diverted for an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, passengers and crew on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a terrifying five seconds bout of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and numerous people sustained injuries, as those without seatbelts were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

Turbulence is fairly routine on aircraft journeys, and while occurrences of significant turbulence are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are around five thousand cases of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a sum of in excess of 35 million flights that are conducted globally.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the vertical motions of a plane passing through disturbed air apply greater than 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a seatbelt.

As climate change alters atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become bumpier: temperature changes and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.