Multiple Injured as Turbulence Hits Delta Plane into Sydney

A number of individuals sustained injuries after a Delta Airlines jet from LA to Sydney, Australia encountered significant turbulence Friday morning.

The flight, numbered 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson informed. Four flight attendants were injured.

Local paramedics reported they treated a total of five people, and transported three of them to a medical facility with relatively minor issues that such as back pain and headaches. Those affected were between their 30s to 70s.

This marks the newest example of planes experiencing severe turbulence, with experts indicating that climate change is a major factor.

There were 245 passengers and a crew of 15 on the Airbus A350, the Delta spokesperson said, adding that the plane arrived "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they received a call just three minutes before the plane arrived, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why plane turbulence is becoming increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, experienced "severe" turbulence just 120 minutes into the long-haul flight, and diverted for an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines jet endured a harrowing brief five-second of severe turbulence. An individual passed away and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers rose out of their seats and crashed back down.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while instances of rough conditions seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are around 5,000 incidents of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a overall number of more than 35 million aircraft departures that are conducted worldwide.

Intense turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a plane passing through rough air masses apply in excess of 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 seatbelt.

As a changing climate shifts atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that air travel could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the upper atmosphere are projected to boost the regularity and severity of dangerous in-flight bumps.