A Number of Affected as Turbulence Strikes Delta Aircraft Landing at Sydney, Australia

Several people sustained injuries after a Delta Airlines flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney encountered turbulence Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "encountered brief turbulence" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier informed. Four flight attendants required medical attention.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service reported they assessed five individuals, and took three of them to the hospital with minor injuries that comprised back pain and headaches. The injured spanned from their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the newest example of commercial jets being hit by severe turbulence, with researchers indicating that climate change is a major factor.

On board were 245 people and 15 crew members on the aircraft, the official noted, adding that the plane arrived "without further incident" at the airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on the day in question.

Emergency responders said they got a call just a mere three minutes ahead of the plane arrived, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

The reasons turbulence is growing more common - and more severe.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, experienced "considerable" turbulence just two hours into the transoceanic journey, and diverted for an precautionary landing.

Recently, travelers and staff on a certain international flight went through a harrowing brief five-second period of extreme instability. An individual lost their life and dozens were injured, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence on aircraft journeys, and while instances of rough conditions appear to be increasing, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a total of over 35 million flights that now take off globally.

Severe turbulence is defined as when the up and down movements of a jet passing through unstable air exert greater than 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you did not have on a seatbelt.

As a changing climate modifies the conditions in the sky, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become less smooth: warming trends and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are projected to heighten the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.