A Number of Hurt as Turbulence Impacts A Delta Airlines Plane into Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew were hurt when a Delta Airlines aircraft originating in LA to Sydney, Australia was hit by rough air this past Friday.

Delta Flight 41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it made its approach and landed at Sydney Airport, a representative for the carrier told. A number of the onboard staff were injured.

The New South Wales Ambulance Service said they assessed a total of five people, and transported three of them to hospital with relatively minor issues that comprised back pain and head pain. The patients' ages ranged from their thirties and seventies.

This marks the latest incident of planes experiencing turbulence, with aviation specialists pointing out that global warming is a major factor.

On board were 245 people and a crew of 15 on the wide-body jet, the representative said, clarifying that the plane arrived "without further incident" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on Friday.

Paramedics indicated they received a call just three minutes before the plane touched down, and ambulances were waiting on the tarmac.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting increasingly prevalent - and potentially more dangerous.

During the past year, two dozen individuals sustained injuries when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, Netherlands, experienced "severe" atmospheric disturbance just 120 minutes into the transoceanic journey, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a harrowing brief five-second period of extreme instability. A traveler passed away and dozens were injured, as those without seatbelts rose out of their seats and fell back down.

Bumpy air is not uncommon during flights, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence seem to be rising, they are still very rare.

Data suggests that there are around five thousand cases of significant in-flight disturbance every year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million journeys that now take off worldwide.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is categorized as when the up and down movements of a aircraft going through disturbed air apply in excess of 1.5g-force on your body - sufficient force to lift you out of your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As global warming alters atmospheric conditions, researchers alert that commercial aviation could become bumpier: warming trends and altered air currents in the jet stream level are expected to heighten the frequency and intensity of significant turbulence.