Multiple Affected as Turbulence Impacts Delta Aircraft Arriving in Sydney

Several people have been injured following a Delta Airlines aircraft from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia encountered turbulence this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it touched down at the Sydney airport, a company official stated. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they assessed a total of five people, and transferred three to hospital with minor injuries that such as pain in the back and head pain. The patients' ages ranged from their 30s up to the 70s.

It is the most recent case of aircraft experiencing severe turbulence, with aviation specialists saying that shifting climate patterns is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the representative said, stating that the plane touched down "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they were alerted just three minutes before the plane touched down, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

Why plane turbulence is growing more common - and potentially more dangerous.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were injured when a separate Delta aircraft, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "severe" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a frightening brief five-second of severe turbulence. One passenger passed away and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and were slammed back.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while occurrences of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Estimates show that there are approximately thousands of instances of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a total of in excess of 35 million flights that currently occur worldwide.

Intense turbulence is categorized as when the up and down movements of a jet going through rough air masses apply greater than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you did not have on a safety belt.

As a changing climate alters atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that commercial aviation could become less smooth: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the jet stream level are projected to increase the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.